There had been widespread fears before the Games that they would fail to live up to expectations.

But the council's report said: "Revenue targets were exceeded largely due to tickets sales at �13.7m against a target of �10.6m."

That means Manchester City Council, Sport England and the Government will get to keep the �9m contingency fund they allocated to cover any overspend.

Sport England had committed �4m, the city council �3m and the Government �2m.

A further �4m has been set aside for the redevelopment of the City of Manchester Stadium, which will be occupied by Manchester City.

The Games cost a reported total of �477m to stage, with around �170m spent on new venues.

Ticket sales for the 17 events, which involved competitors from 72 nations, reached 900,000 - 90% of the overall allocation.

And Manchester 2002 organising committee boss Frances Done said this had combined with an unexpected level of sponsorship to make the Games a commercial success.

"It's difficult not to be rather pleased about that," she told BBC Radio Five Live.

"The Games were a complete critical success, a superb sporting event, so we're very pleased they have also been a commercial success as well.

"We're particularly pleased that we managed to exceed the income target by around �4m.

"The figure of �477m is a bit over the top - some people tend not to realise that a Games of this size and significance can't possibly be run without public funding.

"But of course there's a huge legacy which goes with that.

"The city has got fantastic sporting events for the future and the impact of the Games on regeneration and the image of Manchester and the north west has been enormous."

Done believes the staging of the Games augurs well for a possible future Olympic bid.

"I don't think there is any doubt that what we have done logistically - getting the transport right, getting the village right, getting the sport right - has shown it can be done. That's good for the UK.

"The Olympics is a very different order, it's much bigger. But you have to do the same things and I think it demonstrates the UK can do this."