Milton Keynes broke into jubilant celebration on Wednesday as the New City was named a candidate host for England's 2018 World Cup bid.

MK was confirmed alongside 11 other cities in the England proposal, with FIFA set to make a final selection from 17 stadiums should England's bid succeed.

Milton Keynes' inclusion puts the New City alongside some of the country's most established footballing venues, with London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool all included as potential hosts.

And the MK bid team will now face the task of helping England secure the tournament, as well as convincing FIFA the city is ready to host some of world football's biggest names.

Sunderland, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol and Plymouth are the other cities selected, with Leicester, Derby and Hull those to miss out.

Key personnel from the MK bid team plus other representatives from MK Council, MK Dons, Milton Keynes Partnership and several other partners in the bid were at stadiummk to hear the announcement on the stadium's big screen, with a host of local and national media also in attendance.

"This is absolutely brilliant news for the people of Milton Keynes," said Dr Ann Limb, Chair of the bid consortium and Milton Keynes Partnership. "We will be proud to be part of this fantastic festival of football, and it will give a massive boost to our local economy."

Dons Chairman Pete Winkelman has been one of the leading campaigners to bring world class football to the city, and will now set about extending the bid's centre-piece, stadiummk, to the required capacity of 43,000.

stadiummk will increase its capacity to 44,000 should England be awarded the 2018 World Cup.

He said: "We've confirmed for the people of Milton Keynes that this is a proper city. Everyone living here now could now be able to tell their grandchildren about the time World Cup football came to Milton Keynes - it's a fantastic legacy for this city.

"We are a city in the making and Milton Keynes is going to be an extremely exciting place to be in the next few years."

Another member of the bid consortium, Milton Keynes Council Leader Cllr Sam Crooks, said this is one of the most significant achievements in the history of the city.

He added: "The success of the bid is a result of hard work, commitment and enthusiasm of the team involved in putting the bid submission in place. It is also thanks to the wonderful people of Milton Keynes who really got behind the bid and showed their support in different ways."

The consortium driving the bid consisted of Milton Keynes Council, Milton Keynes Partnership, MK Dons, and MK Economic and Learning Partnership.

Milton Keynes will now be named as a host city in the Bid Book being produced by England 2018, the company formed to lead England's Bid to be part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Bid Book is submitted in May 2010, after which FIFA will assess the bids, before making a decision in December 2010.