The University of Birmingham is set to back calls for the Commonwealth Games to come to the Brum - if the city submits a bid.

Vice Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood said the university, one of the best in the country, would jump at the chance to be a partner in any bid.

And it could play a key role, because it is set to open a state-of-the-art £55 million sports centre this year, complete with an Olympic-length swimming pool.

Sports stars and community leaders have called on Birmingham to follow in the footsteps of other UK cities and bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Brummie athlete Mark Lewis-Francis, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, is among those urging a bid.

Aldridge swimmer Ellie Simmonds, a four times Paralympic gold medal winner, has said the city should consider bidding. And Kings Norton Labour councillor Peter Griffiths, a former athlete who ran cross country for Great Britain, has said a bid would give the city a major boost.

It follows the announcement that Liverpool plans to submit a bid.

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Sir David told the Birmingham Mail: “If there were such an application we would strongly support it. We have an international-sized swimming pool.

“We will by September have the largest sports centre of any UK university.”

Vice Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood, of the University of Birmingham

Referring to the UK’s top universities, which are part of an organisation called the Russell Group, he added: “We are the strongest Russell Group university in the country for sport. So we would be a very strong and willing partner in any such bid.”

The university has experience of hosting top athletes, as the Jamaican track and field team, including runner Usain Bolt, trained at the Edgbaston campus before competing in the London 2012 Olympics Games.

As well as the opening of the new swimming pool, the 2026 Games would coincide with the opening of Birmingham’s HS2 station and giant Curzon and Smithfield regeneration schemes.