**Cities hoping to be part of England’s 2018 World Cup bid will find out on Wednesday if they have been successful.**England 2018 will announce which of the 15 cities will be included, with up to 18 stadiums expected to be named.
Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool and London are among the candidates.
Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle/Gateshead, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield and Sunderland also made submissions in November.
The Liverpool bid suffered a blow on the deadline day for applications when the government backed a decision to refuse planning permission for Everton’s plans for a new stadium at Kirkby.
The cities all made their cases for inclusion at the end of November, with capital city London proposing four stadiums - Wembley, the Emirates, the 2012 Olympic stadium and Tottenham’s yet-to-be-built new ground.
Football League and selection panel chairman Lord Mawhinney will announce the successful cities and stadiums at a news conference, which is expected to start at about 1500 GMT on Wednesday.
As the announcement approached, the government signed financial guarantees of £300m for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
All bidding nations have to sign up to deliver a number of guarantees and England’s have been signed off several months ahead of the May 2010 deadline.
Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe said the financial agreement was another sign the England bid was back on track after some initial problems with claims of infighting among the board.
“It is now united, and the guarantees combined with our offer of a £2.5m loan which is on the table if they want to pick it up, underlines that,” said Sutcliffe.
"I think the board moves were right and my concern now is that football will deliver us this bid, as they have to get the votes of the 24 Fifa executive committee members.
“Signing off the guarantees at this early stage puts the bid in good shape.”
The guarantees were signed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and various relevant ministers, while other commitments regarding security, visas and tax were also made.
Fifa obliges bidding nations to sign a confidentiality clause so the exact details of the guarantees are not being released.
It is likely that the tax guarantee is similar to the deal the Government agreed with Uefa in order to stage the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, where foreign players will be exempted from being taxed on their tournament earnings.
England bid chairman Lord Triesman said: "The guarantees underpin around £300m worth of financial commitment without which it would be impossible to host the tournament.
“This again demonstrates England’s desire as a whole to meet and exceed Fifa’s requirements and guarantees Fifa the most secure environment possible for the world’s biggest sporting event in terms of security, financial, legal and commercial partner delivery.”
As part of its ongoing campaign, a bid delegation led by Triesman made a formal presentation on Tuesday to Fifa Executive Committee member Dr Amos Adamu in Abuja, Nigeria.
The presentation included personal messages of support for the bid from Nigeria captain Kanu, Super Eagles midfielder John Obi Mikel and Ghana skipper Michael Essien.
Former Manchester United and England striker Andrew Cole, an England 2018 ambassador, was also part of the delegation.
“It’s great to be involved with this bid and it’s enjoyable meeting with people around the world to discuss it because it is something I completely believe in,” Cole said.
“I would love a World Cup to be in our country as I think we would put on a fantastic show for football everywhere.”
A final decision on the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be made in December 2010.