Birmingham to host 2022 Commonwealth Games

Birmingham is set to be confirmed as the host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Games were originally awarded to Durban in 2015 but the South African city was stripped of the event in March for financial reasons.

Commonwealth will, therefore, be held in England for the first time after 2002 when Manchester hosted the event, reports the Guardian.

Birmingham has had to wait nearly three months to have its name confirmed, despite being the only city to submit a bid by the Commonwealth Games Federation's (CGF) deadline of September end.

It was delayed firstly due to an extension of the deadline for bids until the end of November as the CGF termed the city's proposal not to be "fully compliant" and then more delay was caused as the CGF sought further guarantees over funding from the city and the British government.

Countries that were mainly once part of the British Empire are open to participating in the Commonwealth Games.

The forthcoming 2018 Games will be staged on Australia's Gold Coast.