The Leicester 2018 host city bid team has presented their “team orientated” campaign to under fire England officials at Wembley.

The bid team, which included grassroots football teams and Leicester City’s mascot Filbert Fox, looked to play to the campaign’s strength by emphasising the city’s unity between Leicester City and Tigers whilst also highlighting the good relationship between city and county councils.

Leicester, who are one of 15 cities vying for a role in hosting matches at the 2018 tournament, have also vowed to increased the Walkers stadium to either 42,000 or 45,000 if the bid is successful.

Mark Laywood, who has been putting together the bid, said: “We’re really confident and we believe that we are in the best position possible to host matches at the World Cup, if England is selected as the host nation in 2018. Having a World Cup in Leicester will create a fantastic atmosphere in the city and will have a huge impact on the city. It will put us on the world stage.”

Councillor Ross Willmott, leader of Leicester City Council, said: “Nobody else has the same sense of community that we have here and we’re such a diverse city that almost any nation could feel at home playing here in the World Cup. I’ve come into this as someone who doesn’t like football so I brought a bit of scepticism to the bid team, but I’ve been caught up in World Cup fever and now I’m very excited about the prospect of Leicester being a host city.”