Birmingham is set to be announced as the host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games after Durban was stripped of the event in March, according to reports Wednesday.

The Games were originally awarded to Durban in 2015 but the South African city had the event taken away for financial reasons.

That led to a shortened bidding contest that came down to a race for British government funding between Birmingham and Liverpool, which was won by the central English city in September.

Despite being the only city to submit a bid by the Commonwealth Games Federation’s (CGF) deadline of the end of September, Birmingham has had to wait nearly three months to have its victory confirmed.

The city’s initial proposal was judged to be not “fully compliant” with a further delay as the CGF sought further guarantees over funding from Birmingham and the British government.

Confirmation of Birmingham as 2022 hosts is due to be made at a press conference in the city on Thursday morning.

The Games are open to countries that are members of the Commonwealth, a collection of nations and territories that were mainly once part of the British empire.

The 2018 Games will be staged on Australia’s Gold Coast.

source: AFP