Coventry City Football Club's (CCFC) Ricoh Arena has been chosen by Olympic organisers as one of the venues to host football matches during the 2012 Games.

The venue, which will be rebranded as the City of Coventry Stadium for the Games to comply with International Olympic Committee rules on sponsorship, replaces Birmingham's Villa Park. Qualifying matches during the 2012 Olympic football tournament will be played at the 32,500-seat venue, after Villa Park was ruled out as a result of planned redevelopment work.

Ricoh Arena chief executive Daniel Gidney said: "We are looking forward enormously to staging Olympic football in Coventry. This is a great honour and we are proud to be involved with the Games." Olympics minister Hugh Robertson added: "Sitting at the heart of the Midlands, the City of Coventry Stadium is ideally located for thousands of people to come and watch the London 2012 football competition and be inspired to get involved in sport."

Other venues to be used for the 2012 football competition include Cardiff's Millennium Stadium; Glasgow's Hampden Park; St James' Park in Newcastle and Manchester's Old Trafford. Wembley Stadium in London will host the finals of the football tournament.