DERBY has officially submitted its preliminary bid to host matches in the 2018 or 2022 football World Cup.

Cities keen to stage games had until yesterday to send the revision of their outline proposal to the Football Association.

And Derby's bid team, comprising Derby County Football Club, the city and county councils, Marketing Derby and the University of Derby, among others, has transformed its original bid document of 117 pages to a 230-page book.

Richard Williams, the city's assistant director – regeneration, said the bid team was very happy with its submission.

He said: "It's a strong bid and we are hopeful that the FA will be impressed with what they see.

"This new document is lot more detailed than the first now we know what the FA is expecting from us.

"This means we are confident we will be ready to submit our final version of the bid as required in mid-November."

Having submitted the revised bid, Derby must now prepare itself for a second visit from the FA, which will take place on September 4.

Last month, representatives from the FA, who are compiling England's bid to bring the tournament to this country, came to the city to assess the strength of Derby's case.

Derby is now one of 16 cities competing for the right to stage World Cup matches, following a late entry from Plymouth to host the tournament.

Other cities staking a claim are Birmingham, Bristol, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle and Gateshead, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Sunderland.

Derby Telegraph readers can still show their support by visiting www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/bid and www.therams.co.uk.

You can also pledge your support on www.derby2018bid.com and www.england2018bid.com.