Manchester is among the best cities in the world for sport. It was ranked number one ‘small city’ in the world by international sports body SportAccord for sporting facilities, transport and public support.
In the overall best city vote, Manchester came seventh – beating New York, Paris and Dubai – but behind London. The winner was Melbourne.
Manchester also won the ‘best legacy’ category following the Commonwealth Games in 2002.
The awards, at an international sporting convention in Dubai, are expected to give added weight to England’s bid to host the 2018 football World Cup.
Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive at Manchester city council, said: “This is an extraordinary achievement for Manchester to be recognised on the international stage with these prestigious awards.
“Our approach to sport has always been that it can be a catalyst for regeneration and a key way to create new opportunities.
"This has been seen most clearly through the legacy of the Commonwealth Games.
“I am particularly proud of the fact that of all the cities in the world, it has been recognised that Manchester leads the way on this.”
The results were compiled from research conducted across 150 cities and 2,000 events, by SportBusiness Group.
The judging criteria included analysis of stadia and venues, transport and infrastructure, government and public support and testimonials from event personnel. The small city category covered cities with populations of less than one million.
Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, said: “This is great news for the city.
“To have Manchester’s ability to host top flight, international sports events recognised by such a widely-respected industry magazine will help to attract even more events in the future.”
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I dont know how they came to that conclusion when you have a city like sheffield and the sports complexes/opportunities that have on offer
A great achievement for Manchester and yet the first person to comment can only say something negative. Glass always half empty for some I guess. Well done Manchester.
Great news for Manchester and all Mancunians. Steady progress has been made for many years now, following on from the investment in the Velodrome and the City of Manchester Stadium. Sir Howard and his colleagues continue to do a fine job and the next step is for the council and the Manchester City F.C. owners to regenerate the Eastlands area still further.
I believe that the City owners are planning to invest upto a £billion in the club and the area so the future for Manchester is looking bright.
Why is it great news? What benefits will it bring? It is a statement of past and present not future. The story of MAnchester's life - past glory.
Thankfully this will validate the fact,perhaps Manchester isnt 'The Cycling Capital of the World',as previously reported in the MEN.
Manchester="the best small city"...we Reds know about that already!
Why is it great news? What benefits will it bring? It is a statement of past and present not future. The story of MAnchester's life - past glory.
Tourism, International recognition and business developement possibly.
MCC has desroyed most of the important history that manchester is famous for? we could have been a better city rather than a clone of other large cities.We should have kept some of our history to tell the story where the industrial revolution started.I remember as a child walking over a great bridge with the medlock river running under it now its under the mancunian way and culverted away from the glory of having a lovely river where it could have been made a attraction but yet again the dreded town planners hid yet another of manchesters gems.