Andy Burnham is exploring a bid for the UK to host the men’s World Cup alongside plans for a Northern Olympics, according to reports.

A known football lover, the prime minister’s bid would form part of his push to use major sporting events to drive investment, tourism and regeneration beyond the capital, The i has reported.

It would bring the World Cup back to the UK for the first time since England hosted in 1966, when the Three Lions last won the tournament.

The newspaper reported that Mr Burnham told colleagues on Friday morning at No 10 North that he was in talks with the nation’s footballing bodies about how a campaign could be delivered to host the tournament.

The next available World Cup is in 2038, followed by tournaments in 2042 and 2046, but Fifa has not begun the process of deciding the host yet.

Mr Burnham is also reportedly hoping to bring the Olympics up north in an effort to bring more revenue to other regions of the country.

The prime minister voiced his frustrations earlier this month that the major football tournament had only been hosted in the UK once, in 1966.

“It makes you wonder whether the authorities at the European and global level have something against us,” he told Ellis Platten, host of the Away Days podcast.

“The country that invented the game, you’d think we would have had a bit more of that attention.”

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