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By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
June 2 – A new venue in the Midlands to stage football matches during the London 2012 Olympics is due to be announced tomorrow.
London 2012 officials decided to drop Villa Park, the home ground of Premier League club Aston Villa, from its roster of venues last August because the club could not guarantee that planned building work would be completed in time.
They have launced a tender process to find a replacement in the Midlands, which will host both men and women’s matches.
Several clubs have showed an interest, including Aston Villa’s neighbours Birmingham City.
But their ground at St Andrews is considered to be one of the worst in the Premier League and only just meets the International Olympic Committee (IOC) criteria of having a capacity of 30,000.
Other clubs to have put themselves forward include Coventry City, Derby County and Leicester City.
Pride Park in Derby and the Walkers Stadium in Leicester were both on the short-list of stadiums considered by England 2018 to be part of their World Cup bid.
But both were controversially overlooked in favour of Nottingham Forest, whose proposed new stadium is the subject of fierce local opposition.
The stadium chosen will host qualifying matches during London 2012 alongside Old Trafford in Manchester, St James’ Park in Newcastle, Hampden Park in Glasgow and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The semi-finals and finals are due to be held at Wembley Stadium.
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