Interested parties have until next Friday to submit a written offer for Manchester United.
The Daily Mail says those who wish to buy United will have to submit a one-paragraph only offer - disclosing simply their bid and the percentage of the club they will to take - by next Friday.
Proof of funds will also have to be attached in what is being viewed as a landmark day in the battle for arguably the world's biggest football club.
A group of private Qatari investors are to make a bid and believe that theirs will be the strongest offer. Work on that bid is progressing at speed, it can be disclosed.
Five serious offers to take control of the club from the Glazer family are expected. They will be made to US merchant bank Raine, which is running the process, with dozens more likely to be on the table in the shape of investment rather than total takeover.
When the bids are in, the battle will move to the next stage, which is likely to be the most intense. Raine will have the task of reducing those who have made offers to a key group of around two or three serious contenders.
