There were no surprises as all six - Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo - had previously publicly declared that they would bid.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) had until midnight last night to notify the IOC that a city within their jurisdiction was interested in applying.

In addition, all of the cities NOCs complied with the newly introduced prerequisite criteria established by the IOC's ruling Executive Board n October 2010, including, in Doha's case, a request to hold the Games outside the normal window if their bid is successful.

There will now be a two-year long campaign leading up to the host city being chosen at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires on September 7, 2013. 

But the first phase will be the Candidature Acceptance Procedure, which focuses on a technical review and the cities' ability to host the Games.

Cities are required to answer a questionnaire which must be returned by February 15 next, and their answers will be studied by the IOC.

The Executive Board will then choose at its meeting in Quebec City next May which cities should be put forward to the next stage.

Baku and Doha were both eliminated at this stage of the process to select the host for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.

Istanbul also failed to get past this stage the last time they bid, for 2012, which went to London.

This will be Madrid's third consecutive bid having reached the final three for 2012 and the last two for 2016.

Of the other bidders, only Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964, have previously held the Games.

Those selected to go through to phase two, known as the as the Candidature Procedure, concentrates on Games operational matters.

Cities will be requested to submit their Candidature File - an in-depth description of their Olympic project - by January 7, 2013.

They will then have their bids assessed by the IOC Evaluation Commission, who will visit each of the bidders and spend several days analysing it.

The IOC Evaluation Commission's appraisal will be published in a report and sent to the IOC members no later than one month before the final and in time for the 2020 briefing for IOC Members, which is normally held in Lausanne a few weeks before the final vote.

The first opportunity the six bidders will have to meet each other will be on November 3-4 when the IOC will hold an information seminar at its headquarters in Lausanne.

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