UK wants to host 97 international sport events in next decade - including 2030 World Cup

The UK has chosen almost 100 international sporting events it hopes to host over the coming decade.

The events include 44 sports - including 46 world championships - and could bring almost £7bn to the economy.

Some of those events have already been secured, while others like the 2030 men's football World Cup, an English bid for the 2025 women's rugby World Cup, and the 2031 Ryder Cup are at the feasibility study stage.

Funding body UK Sport, which has chosen the events with government support, could not say how many of the other events it expected to secure - but did say that the country's bid success rate had been around 80% in the past four years.

This would mean 78 of the 97 events could be secured if the country decided to bid for all of them.

The main prize would be the men's centenary football World Cup in 2030 - one of the most widely watched sporting events across the globe.

The bidding process will be set out by FIFA before the second quarter of next year and the host will be announced in 2024.

Ireland could join the UK as a joint bidder for the event, an idea being explored, but there will be tough competition to be UEFA's preferred bidder, with Spain and Portugal also expected to try their luck.

There is likely to be a South American bid too and, given Uruguay hosted the finals in 1930, they could get at least sentimental support.

UK Sport chief operating officer Simon Morton said: "FIFA have made some significant and important changes to the bid process. It has become significantly more transparent.

"Some said that the (2018) bid was perhaps a bit too insular - well we're talking about a five-nation bid, so the tone is completely different.

"This is pioneering, this is unprecedented in terms of what we're talking about, so I think those things give us confidence that after 11 years since the last bid, things have the potential to be different this time around."

The 2031 Ryder Cup is also being considered, with a study looking at possible golf courses in England.

Mr Morton added: "These events will play an important part not just in our economic recovery from the pandemic, but in our social recovery."