Although it’s a long way off and in no way assured, England’s bid for 2018 has got cities across the country excited with the potential of having Luxembourg  v Wales (ok maybe not Wales, that would be ridiculous) playing at their shiny new stadium, prompted by the organisers who say they may pick stadia that would not normally be considered for international events.

So who has got the best bid? We assess the stadiums, celebrities and bids put forward to see who might make the grade when the decision is made in December.

From the contenders we take in all their transport facilities, stadia, population and then rank them based on whatever regional stereotypes I’ve got in my head at the time and Derren Brown style guesswork..so here goes.

#1 London: London is a no-brainer.  Wembley will host the final and/or a semi-final, the Emirates almost definitely, and possibly the 2012 Olympic Stadium could be used.

The London strategy is one-plus-three other stadiums. So the big question surrounding London’s participation in the World Cup is which three stadiums will join Wembley?

Spurs could have a new stadium by 2018 and throw a new 60,000 capacity ground into the mix. So Wembley, the Emirates, Olympic Stadium and the new Spurs stadium – if it’s operational – will be the grounds that host World Cup Football in London. Stamford Bridge maybe on standby with  Twickenham,  if the stuffy egg-chasers let us use it in return for Wembley being used in the Rugby World Cup. But if Croke Park can be used for Ireland’s international team, why not us?

Tessa Jowell, the culture minister, has said she is concerned about the use of the Olympic Stadium, and the expense in maintaining it for six years . The likes of West Ham have no chance, and completely forget about the New Den!

Campaign and celebrities: London is an odd one, as it is almost assured four of the stadiums and is in no competition, there is no real need to promote the city as such.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Too long to list, but David Beckham would be the obvious choice as a worldwide superstar. Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine, Danny Dyer. Austin Powers.

Website: http://www.2018england.co.uk/category/london

Chosen stadiums: Wembley, Olympic Stadium, Emirates, New Spurs ground.

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#2 Manchester: For many people Manchester is England’s second city, culturally if not in terms of population.

In terms of stadia, Manchester has two world class stadia now with the 48,000 capacity City of Manchester Stadium and 76,212 souls able to fit into the ‘theatre of dreams’ at Old Trafford.

This could provide a selection committee with a headache: do they pick both stadia? And if they only pick one, do they go with the shiny new City of Manchester stadium or do they go with being able to fit more bodies into Old Trafford?

A lot could happen between now and 2018 but I’d expect them to definitely pick Old Trafford, both in terms of worldwide recognition and because of the money they could make from it. Although Manchester City’s owners have plans to expand the City of Manchester stadium to 78,000 and they have the widest pitch in the English football and they’ve also hosted the UEFA Cup. So who knows?

Campaign and celebrities: Manchester know they’ve already got an incredibly strong bid, so they don’t need to wheel out the Coronation Street stars yet. Their bid is based largely on videos from football stars and managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Mark Hughes.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Happy Mondays, Bez, Curly Watts, Ian Brown. Terry Christian, New Order.

Website: http://www.manchesterworldsport.com/

Chosen stadium: Could quite easily be both, but if I had to pick just one, Old Trafford. If the committee are selecting the best stadiums, it would have to be both.

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#3 Birmingham: In pure population terms, if not culturally, Birmingham is England’s second-city (although some say Manchester), so you’d think it would be assured of one stadium in the World Cup mix.

The favoured stadium here would obviously be Villa Park, although there are plans for a City of Birmingham stadium put forward by Birmingham City FC whether that remains on the agenda now that Carson Yeung is taking them over and Karen Brady has left remains to be seen.

Although the generally accepted view is that Villa Park needs a lick of paint, it has a long history of hosting international matches and has a capacity of 42,640. So bearing that in mind, I would put Villa Park as probably the best chance for the Midlands to get a World Cup game.

If it came down to a choice between one of Derby, Nottingham and Leicester and Birmingham, expect the West Midlands to come up trumps.  Politically, they couldn’t not have a game in Birmingham, and former European Cup winners Villa will probably still be a Premiership team. Birmingham City, Derby, Forest and Leicester I’m not so sure about.

Campaign and celebrities: Birmingham’s bid celebrates the multi-cultural nature of the city, and has the backing of comedian Jasper Carrott, former England manager Graham Taylor, the Birmingham City and Villa squads, and Big Brother’s Kate Lawler. It has a fairly swish website with links to facebook, twitter and flickr.

Celebs we’d like to see?: Noddy Holder, Ozzy Osbourne

Website: http://www.backthebirminghambid.com/

Chosen Stadium: Villa Park.

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#4 Liverpool: It would be a major surprise if a city and stadium of the stature of Liverpool and Anfield didn’t get a World Cup game.

New Anfield has been put on hold due to the global recession, but Liverpool have been buoyed by their massive new sponsorship package with Royal Standard. So if New Anfield is ready, they will be a certainty. Even if not, Anfield is still a decent stadium. Might be slightly hampered by being in the same region as Manchester if it comes down to choosing per region.

Campaign and celebrities: Liverpool’s campaign hasn’t really got going yet. They have the obvious football backing through Liverpool and Everton, and they have announced Gerry Marsden and Peter Hooton from the Farm as their celebrity leads and have promised a ‘Beatles’ theme fan park, which in all honesty, sounds a bit boring and unimaginative.

The Council page on the website is also far from inspirational.  But if they get the Stanley Park stadium together their stadiums and the reputation of the city would make their bid unstoppable. But they need to up their campaign to make a truly convincing case.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Paul McCartney, Kim Cattarall and Rick Astley, Paul McGann and Harry Enfield.

Website: http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Leisure_and_culture/2018_world_cup_bid/world_cup_news/index.asp

Chosen Stadium: New Anfield

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#5 Newcastle: The Geordies currently have the third largest stadium in English football and the seventh largest in Europe with a capacity of 52,387. St James Park has hosted matches in Euro 96 and will host games for the 2012 Olympics so they have good form as a host city. Newcastle also has a great nightlife and metro system for visitors to the World Cup.

Might come under pressure from the Sunderland and Hull bids, but you’d expect Newcastle to see them off. I mean, after a World Cup game would you really want to go for a night out in either of those cities or would you rather go down the Bigg market?

Campaign and celebrities: Maybe it’s because it’s early days, but there isn’t much sign yet of the Newcastle campaign. Expect them to wheel out the big-guns Ant and Dec nearer D-Day.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Aforementioned Ant and Dec, Gazza, Donna Air, Jayne Middlemiss.

Website: http://www.newcastlegateshead.com/worldcup2018/index.html

Chosen Stadium: St James Park

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#6 Sheffield: This is where it gets difficult. I’ve put Sheffield in the top six purely because of its status as a major City and I think the organisers will think along those terms.  Although Leeds will argue they have a bigger population, Sheffield has potentially three stadiums in its bid and at the time of press they have more chance of having one top flight club by 2018.

The three stadiums that the Sheffield bid could use are Hillsborough, Bramall Lane and the Don Valley stadium. I don’t think they can be put in the top echelon of football grounds anymore and they’ve been surpassed by newly-built stadia at Sunderland, Hull, Derby, Leicester, Southampton, etc.

However, as a city, there is a lot more to do in Sheffield than there is in the provinces. Its main competition would be Yorkshire rivals Leeds.

Campaign and celebrities: Has started a fairly decent campaign. Gordon Banks, Michael Vaughan and Jessica Ennis. I’m expecting Sean Bean to pop up at some time or another. It may need a bit of pizzaz to make the bid more exciting with their uber-dull stadiums.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Jarvis Cocker, Human League, Sean Bean, Bruce Dickinson, Eddie Izzard, Michael Palin, Dominic West (McNulty from ‘the Wire’)

Website: http://www.sheffield2018.co.uk/

Chosen Stadium: Hillsborough (might invalidate any appeareance from Sean Bean…)

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#7 Bristol: Now we come to the first candidate city whose bid relies on an entirely new stadium being built, and we get into the mirky realms of whether planning permission will be granted and whether the club will sustain the attendances that the stadium is built for.

Technically, I think Hull should come above Bristol, but as the sole candidate for the South-West, I think Bristol’s Ashton Vale stadium will be picked with Bristol’s position as the sixth biggest city in England, counting for a lot, plus I can see Bristol being picked as the area that should get a host city berth as an area starved of usual international action.

Campaign and celebrities: Wallace and Grommitt, Tony Robinson, Gary Mabutt, Steve Scott, James Cracknell, Chris Moyles, Gary Johnson, Marcus Trescothick, Martin Jol and Eddie Large are all backing Bristol’s bid. They have a nice little campaign going as well that they are putting a lot into. I hope they get picked.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: They’ve pretty much got everybody, short of resurrecting Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Bernie Clifton, who built the excellent suspension bridge.

Website:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/worldcup
http://www.bristol2018.net/

Chosen Stadium: Ashton Vale

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#8 Leeds: Fourth biggest UK city in terms of population, the Leeds bid depends on Leeds United being in the Premier League, which is why, as a bid I’ve rated it lower than Sheffield.

Elland Road currently qualifies for group matches anyway, with a capacity of 40,242, but if Leeds return to the Premier League it would be substantially upgraded.

If only one city was selected from Yorkshire though, I would expect it to be Sheffield’s bid because they have three stadiums that could be used for training purposes.

Campaign and celebrities: Not much going off with the Leeds bid apart from footballers Norman Hunter, Peter Lorimer, Nigel Martyn, Gordon McQueen, Simon Grayson and Leeds’ Rui Marques.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Mel B, Leigh Francis, John Simm, Gabby Logan, John Craven.

Website: http://www.backthebidleeds.com/

Chosen stadium: Elland Road

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#9 Leicester: To be fair I’ve put this ninth purely on population terms. Leicester’s Walkers Stadium is a fairly nice new stadium but, like its competitors Derby and Nottingham, a lot would depend on the status of the Foxes, Forest and the Rams. If one of them reach the Premiership before the others, they might then be able to put stadium expansion plans into practice.

As all three teams are likely to yo-yo at the best of times who knows? May be helped by the fact that the Leicester Tigers are also well known in European circles. They are also likely to play the multi-cultural card played by Birmingham amongst others.

If the organisers only pick one stadium from the Midlands I would expect it to be Villa Park though, leaving all three teams disappointed. Leicester would be a safer bet than Nottingham although not much seperates it from Derby’s rival bid.

Campaign and celebrities: Gary Lineker, Martin Johnson, Kasabian, Milan Mandaric, Muzzy Izzett,

Celebs we’d like to see ?:Danielle Bux must surely be making an appearance (preferably in swimsuit form) alongside her husband Gary Lineker? Manish Bhasin from football focus, the guy that played Boba Fett in Star Wars, David Icke

Website: http://www.backleicestersbid.com

Chosen stadium: Walkers Stadium

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#10 Hull: The people of Hull are passionate about their region and their sport, it’s the tenth biggest City in England and they have the shiny new KC Stadium built from their money they have controlling Hull’s entire broadband network.

However, the capacity of the stadium is only 25,404 so it would need to be expanded up to the required 40,000 to hold a group stage game.

However, what I think will really go against Hull is that it is up against Sunderland and Newcastle, both of whom have got better stadia to do the job. And let’s face it despite all the regional pride, nicer cities.

Campaign and celebrities: Phil Brown, Alan Johnson, Nick Barmby, Hull North MP Diana Johnson.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Expect John Prescott to appear at some stage, what are the beautiful South doing nowadays? Paul Heaton, Norman Cook, Reece Shearsmith, Roland Gift from the fine young cannibals.

Website: http://www.hull2018bid.co.uk/

Chosen stadium: KC Stadium

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#11 Nottingham: Nottingham’s World Cup bid could depend upon wrangling between the city and county councils over the proposed new stadium at Gamston.

The bid received a boost when Sven Goran-Eriksson took over at Notts County. If the new stadium fails to materialise or the wrangling is protracted and they have to redevelop the City Ground, the organisers may look at Pride Park or the Walkers Stadium as better options.

Despite the cities reputation as a crime hotbed, there is more to do in Nottingham than both Derby and Leicester and it is seen as the capital of the ‘East Midlands’, so that may go for it.

Campaign and celebrities: Sven Goran Eriksson, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Step forward Su Pollard and Torville and Dean, Nottingham’s finest. Nigel Clough has already declared for Derby. Stuart Pearce is bound to crop up. Actress Samantha Morton is maybe the most recognisable person from Nottingham at the moment.

Website: http://www.england2018bid.com/hostcity/nottingham

Chosen stadium: Not yet known, it could be the new stadium or the City Ground depending on party politics.

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#12 Portsmouth: A more likely south coast candidate than Plymouth, even though Plymouth have a bigger population. Recently acquired by billionaire Sulaiman Al-Fahim they now look likely to move from the ancient Fratton Park to a new ground.

Compared to other campaigns though, there doesn’t look like much appetite for the World Cup and Plymouth look hungrier to have the competition.

Campaign and celebrities: No celebs declared for Portsmouth so far.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Roger Black

(update) Portsmouth have now pulled out of the bids.

Website: http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/backthebid/index.html
Chosen stadium: New Portsmouth FC stadium.

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#13 Sunderland: Under other circumstances, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light would be a good choice for a World Cup group stage, with an impressive existing capacity of 49,000.

It does, though, have the misfortune of being in the shadow of Newcastle’s bid.

I would expect Sunderland to be considered if one of the proposed new stadiums in another region fails to materialise, which could be fairly likely given that several teams are relying on promotion to the Premiership or planning permission. It would be a safe bet for the organising committee.

Campaign and celebrities: Steve Cram, Paul Collingwood, Darren Bent, Middlesbrough FC

Celebs we’d like to see ?:Kate Adie, Dave Stewart.

Website: http://www.sunderlandecho.com/worldcup2018
Chosen stadium: Stadium of Light

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#14 Derby: The one thing going for Derby is that it has the convivial atmosphere of a large town rather than a city, and a good modern stadium at Pride Park that has hosted a full international when England played Mexico. Also it has good railway links and is dead centre of the country.

However, it is in direct competition with Leicester and Nottingham, and if one place goes to the Midlands, Villa Park will be the first choice with maybe one other from the East Midlands to ensure a geographic spread. Should Nottingham fail to get its act together it may be a straight shoot out between Leicester and Derby.

May be boosted by the owners of Derby County’s USA connections. Like Forest and Leicester, for Pride Park to be expanded it really needs the Rams to be in the Premiership for it to be a going economic concern.

Campaign and celebrities: John Hurt, Nigel Clough, Steven Blakely (heartbeat actor), John Hurt, Duke of Devonshire, Roy McFarland.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Tracy Shaw, Jo Guest, Robert Lindsay, Tim Brooke-Taylor

Website: http://www.derby2018bid.com/

Chosen Stadium: redeveloped Pride Park

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#15 Plymouth: A surprise entry to the bidding (and the 16th name in the hat), they have a fair way to go to catch up the other entrants. The bid would depend on a new stadium being built for Plymouth Argyle on Central Park with a fan park on the Hoe.

Probably have left it a bit late, and may be left out of the party, especially if Portsmouth and Bristol are chosen as host grounds.

Campaign and celebrities: Soccer AM’s Helen Chamberlain

Celebs we’d like to see ?: Soccer AM’s Helen Chamberlain but in skimpier clothing.

Website: http://plymouth-worldcupbid.ning.com/main/

Chosen stadium: A new stadium  at Central Park

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#16 Milton Keynes: It would be incredibly suprising if MK won the right to be a World Cup arena. £20m would have to be spent transforming the MK:Stadium into a 45,000 capacity stadium. And sorry MK fans, but Milton Keynes is deadly dull, with none of the character of any of the other host cities. Also, you took Wimbledon’s football club.

The stature of the club would go against them. And with so many games likely to be played in London it would be unfair to have another southern venue. If this was picked as a stadium, I would think it would be because the organisers would want to break the mould, and they might pick it just to be different. I can’t see it though. It’s a cliché I know, but I’ve been there and Milton Keynes is rubbish, stick to sci-fi conventions.

Campaign and celebrities: Neil Kinnock, Paul Ince, Keepy uppy world record breaker Dan Magness and Trevor Brooking. With the exception of Trevor Brooking, its a poor array of celebrities.

Celebs we’d like to see ?: they’ve scraped the barrel with Neil Kinnock, can’t think of anyone else! Milton Keynes is a place most people just pass-through

Website: http://england2018bid.co.uk/hostcity/miltonkeynes

Chosen stadium: redeveloped MK:Stadium

So assuming England actually win the right to host the competition, I’d hazard a guess at the following Stadia to be picked, mainly so they fufill geographic and political criteria, assuming they only pick 14. Of course teams will fail to make it to the Premier League, some grounds won’t even get off the planning stage, but here goes.

•    Wembley – London
•    Olympic Stadium – London
•    Emirates – London
•    New Spurs Ground – London
•    Old Trafford – NorthWest
•    City Of Manchester Stadium – NorthWest
•    New (or old Anfield) – NorthWest
•    Hillsborough – Yorkshire
•    Ashton Vale – South West
•    Walkers Stadium – Midlands
•    Villa Park – Midlands
•    Stadium of Light – North East
•    St James Park – North East

Not picked: MK stadium, Plymouth, Pride Park, Nottingham, KC Stadium, Elland Road, Twickenham.