It kicked off a visit to the city to look at its case and will wrap up its work on Wednesday.

 

Glasgow faces competition from the Nigerian city Abuja, with the winner to be announced at a ceremony in Sri Lanka on November 9 after a vote.

 

John Tierney, chair of the five-man Commonwealth Games Federation Evaluation Commission, said that it will restrict itself to a technical assessment of the Glasgow case.

 

"We understand just how important it is to the people of Glasgow and Scotland to bring these Games to this wonderful and exciting city," he said.

 

He said the commission would look at legacy, political, legal and Customs issues as well as the venues and village arrangements.

 

But he added: "We don't get involved in anything other than the technical elements of the proposal."

 

It has already undertaken a review of the Glasgow bid book and will get the opportunity to clarify issues with the city's bid team on the visit.

 

The commission's reports on both the Glasgow and Abuja bids will be published on September 9.

 

One factor seen as being in Nigeria's favour is that Africa has never hosted the Games before, with Manchester hosting it in 2002 and Edinburgh in 1986.

 

But Mike Hooper, chief executive of Commonwealth Games Federation, said that is not an issue for the commission.

 

"I think you're getting into things that are not of the realm of this commission," he said.

 

"This is a technical evaluation and there are political issues that our constituencies may take into consideration."

 

The commission visited Abuja last week to evaluate its bid and said afterwards it was a city of "promise" which showed "youthful enthusiasm".

 

Tierney added: "It has a wide array of sports and entertainment issues, it has drive and ambition for infrastructure growth and growing domestic community.

 

"It shows great promise as a future Games host."

 

The commission will receive up to 20 hours of presentations around 16 themes of Glasgow's bid, starting today.

 

It will hear from key figures such as Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Willie Rae and City Council chief executive George Black.

 

A tour of the city and its main venues will also be on the agenda, with Sunday including a visit to Hampden, Scotstoun, Ibrox, Celtic Park and the SECC.

 

It comes after Glasgow's official bid document was handed into London earlier this year.