Birmingham's Commonwealth Games hopes have been thrown into jeopardy after the city's bid for the 2022 event was labelled 'not fully compliant'.

Brum was the only city to submit a bid before the original deadline of September 30, and a win looked like a done deal.

But the Commonwealth Games Federation announced today that it has now extended the deadline to November 30 to “enable fully compliant proposals".

The bombshell news throws a huge question mark over the city's hopes of landing the Games, despite some praise from Louise Martin, Commonwealth Games Federation President.

She said: “I must congratulate the Birmingham bid team for the work that has been undertaken in preparing a comprehensive proposal for 2022.

“We have carefully reviewed the bids and updates received as part of the ongoing 2022 Candidate City Process and have agreed - noting the challenging time-scales and no fully compliant bid - that further time should be given to all interested parties to enable the submission of fully compliant proposals.”

Paul Blanchard, Chief executive of Commonwealth Games England, said that there had been a ‘huge effort’ to put a bid together in such a short time.

He told the BBC: "We’ve always said that even though Birmingham was the only city to submit a bid there would still be a few hurdles to clear before a decision was made on formally awarding the Games.”

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Mr Blanchard added the team will, as planned, “will be working with the Commonwealth Games Federation closely over the coming weeks to demonstrate that Birmingham would stage a world class Commonwealth Games in 2022”.

How the Alexander Stadium could look if the Commonwealth Games come to Birmingham.
How the Alexander Stadium could look if the Commonwealth Games come to Birmingham.
Birmingham 2022 Aquatics Centre

Potential bids from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Victoria in Canada had run out of steam in recent weeks through the failure to secure funding.

In contrast Birmingham’s bid won the backing of the Government which agreed to cover 75 per cent of the total funding - estimated to be between £600 million and £750 million.

A spokesperson from Birmingham 2022 said says: “Birmingham worked closely with the DCMS to present a compelling and low risk bid for the city to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“This was delivered within a very tight, but pre-agreed time frame because of the proximity of the 2022 Games and this was communicated to all interested parties.

“We expected a period of discussion and negotiation with the CGF following submission and we await further clarification from the CGF about the next steps.”