In England's unsuccessful bid for the 2018 World Cup, a "total of fifteen stadia from twelve cities were proposed to FIFA. Had England's bid been successful, the final decision on which would host matches would have been made in 2013. Three stadia would have been forwarded from London: Wembley Stadium, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and either the Olympic Stadium or Tottenham Hotspur's yet-to-be-built new ground (if the latter were ready).
"At the time of bidding, the Olympic Stadium was under construction the Olympic games in 2012; its future following the Olympics was unclear and beyond the control of the World Cup bid committee, and so the Tottenham ground was put forward alongside it. It was not made clear during the bid which stadium would have been preferred had both stadia been viable candidates in 2013.[13]
"The other stadia that were nominated were Sunderland's Stadium of Light, Birmingham's Villa Park, the New Nottingham Forest Stadium, Elland Road in Leeds, Sheffield's Hillsborough Stadium, St James' Park in Newcastle, the new Bristol City Stadium, Plymouth's Home Park, Old Trafford and the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, and, in Liverpool, either the existing Anfield or the proposed Stanley Park Stadium.
"In the case of Liverpool, the bid committee determined that the current Anfield stadium would have been, with minor improvements, acceptable for World Cup matches; however, because of Liverpool FC's plans to build a new ground, the committee specified that the new stadium would take the place of Anfield if it were ready in time.[13]
"Many of the stadia selected would have required minor modernisation in order to meet the strict requirements for holding World Cup tournament games, as is usual for all pre-existing stadia. The grounds in Leeds, Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Plymouth in particular were all set for an increase in capacity, whilst new stadiums proposed in Nottingham and Bristol were a part of the bid."