The KC Stadium is on the list of 15 potential venues and has already been visited by inspectors from the Football Association, who are looking to choose up to 12 cities or towns.

 

 

The Hull and East Yorkshire 2018 Team showed the FA delegation around the KC, Hull University and proposed training venues and camps across and around the city.

 

Steven Parnaby, the Leader of East Riding Yorkshire Council, said: "I am very confident from what I have seen and heard, the preliminary feedback was very positive - probably a bit more than I was expecting at this stage."

 

As part of the bid plans have been outlined to extend the KC to 44,000 from its current capacity of 25,404 with a mixture of permanent and temporary seating.

 

Other requirements for host cities include 3,000 hotel rooms within 30 minutes of the city, two team hotels with training facilities, space for FIFA Fan Parks, as well as campsite and caravan locations.

 

Janet Reuben, the chief executive of Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY), said: "Wanting the World Cup here is not enough, we need to get out and shout it in the streets.

 

"We need to wow the FA and make them believe in World Cup football in Hull.

 

"We are a city on the up, and if we want the FA to believe it, we need to believe it ourselves.

 

"We have so much to be proud of in Hull, and many more things on the horizon.

 

"The World Cup will be a chance to showcase our city to the rest of the world, and show them how much we have achieved..

 

"Through The Tigers' Premier League status and Hull FC and Hull KR's Super League battles, the city is really being put on the global map."

 

The £44 million Kingston Communications Stadium, often shortened to KC Stadium or just the KC, was completed in 2002 and is the home ground of Hull City, who were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2007-2008 season and defied the odds last season to survive, and rugby league club Hull FC.

 

The stadium has hosted several England Under-21s games, including in 2004 when a crowd of 25,280 watched the side play Holland.

 

The KC Stadium is now also a regular venue for international rugby league games, and has hosted British matches in both the Tri-Nations and the Ashes competitions.

 

Hull City manager Phil Brown (pictured) said: "For the World Cup bid in 2018 to come to Hull, or for Hull to even be considered as a host city, is a massive sign of how far this club and this area have come.

 

"Compared to 10 years ago we are now a brand new, Barclays Premier League, international stadium.

 

"With the ambition of the chairman and myself, we have the intentions of becoming a 46,000-seater stadium in order to be considered as a city for the 2018 World Cup.

 

"It's a fabulous achievement for everyone connected with the area."

 

The Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce said it believes hosting just one match of the tournament could bring up to 100,000 fans to the region, plus training camps for international sides competing in the competition.

 

The idea has been backed by businessmen on the south bank who believe the benefits of a match would easily reach over the Humber Bridge and into North Lincolnshire.

 

Chamber president Carolyn Burgess said: "Hosting a World Cup game would be a fantastic boost for the Humber economy.

 

"As well as bringing in thousands of visitors who would spend money in the area, it would raise our profile around the world.

"We are encouraging all local businesses to back the bid."

 

The other cities and towns bidding to host matches are Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Sunderland.

World governing body FIFA is due to announce the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments at a meeting in December 2010.