In their announcement, the IESF sent a series of documents to potential hosts including the application form, the event organisation agreement form, the IESF event manual and the IESF doping control guidebook.

They also distributed an introduction to the Esports World Championship.

The deadline for submitting applications to host the competition is September 30.

The IESF have organised their annual World Championship since 2009, when it was held in Taebaek in South Korea, and claim participation levels have increased significantly in that time.

The 2017 edition of the competition, held in Busan and won by hosts South Korea, saw 455 participants from 39 countries take part.

The IESF are currently looking for Olympic recognition and have recently been handed a boost by Germany, who have recognised esports as an official sport.

South Korea, China, Russia, Italy and South Africa are the other countries who have given esports official recognition.

It is still possible that the sport could feature in some capacity at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, although not necessarily under the IESF banner.

A potential barrier to Olympic acceptance, however, could be the use of violent video games with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach recently warning that they need to "draw a clear line" on accepting anything "which is about violence, explosions and killing".