London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester have been confirmed as being among the 12 candidate host cities that will be included in England's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.

Other cities selected for England's 2018 bid include Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Newcastle/Gateshead, Bristol, Sunderland, Nottingham and Sunderland, as well as Plymouth. The candidate host cities have contributed more than £300m in financial guarantees towards hosting the World Cup if England's bid is successful, complementing a further commitment of more than £100m towards legacy and regeneration projects.

A variety of stakeholders, including regional development agencies, local authorities, sports governing bodies, school boards, Premier League and Football League clubs and non-league football have all formed part of the selection process. Three cities – Leicester, Hull and Derby - missed out on being included in the World Cup bid. The final list was was decided by a technical panel comprising Football League chair Lord Mawhinney, bid chief executive Andy Anson and chief operating officer Simon Johnson.

Mawhinney said: "Our candidate host cities provide an exciting mix of iconic venues, stadiums that can be extended and brand new builds. Importantly, this process ensures our cities are 100 per cent compliant with FIFA's technical criteria." Anson added: "The whole of English football has been united behind the bid to help develop our technical submission, with support coming from the Premier League and Football League clubs through to the grassroots game."

The announcement comes a day after the government signed off £300m worth of guarantees drawn up by world governing body FIFA in areas such as tax, security and visas as part of the bid process. Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: "The Government is completely behind England's bid to host the World Cup and getting these guarantees signed off well in advance underlines that continuing commitment, as does the availability of a loan to support the bid itself."