Countries interested in staging the 2020 Olympic Games have been given until 1 September to submit the name of their prospective host cities.

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive board has agreed a timeline for the process, which is to be distributed to all national Olympic committees by the end of January. Once identified, bidding cities will then have to submit application files and guarantee letters to the IOC by 15 February 2012. A decision will be made on 7 September 2013.