UK and Ireland set to host Euro 2028 after Turkey withdraws bid
Football will be coming to the home nations, and the Republic of Ireland, after it was confirmed that a joint bid to host the men’s European Championship in 2028 would proceed unopposed.
Uefa said on Wednesday that Turkey, who had expressed an interest in hosting the tournament, has now withdrawn its bid, leaving a clear run for the UK and Ireland offer.
The news had been expected, with the UK and Ireland the favourite for 2028 ever since the English Football Association signalled it would not bid to host the men’s Fifa World Cup in 2030. Uefa had wanted a mature football market to host the 2028 tournament, as it seeks to recoup revenues lost from the Covid-disrupted tournament of 2021. Turkey’s decision to express interest in 2028 and 2032 had complicated matters, but it has chosen to concentrate on a joint bid with Italy to host the 2032 edition.
With Euro 2028 to be contested by 24 teams, 10 venues across the five host countries have been proposed to Uefa. Six of these venues, including Villa Park, St James’ Park and Everton’s as yet incomplete Bramley Moore Dock stadium, will be in England. Hampden Park in Glasgow, the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and Casement Park in Belfast complete the list.
Uefa would like England, Northern
Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales to go through the standard qualifying process for the tournament. Customarily qualifying places are reserved for host nations, with Poland and Ukraine guaranteed spots before they hosted the men’s Euros in 2012. Uefa is understood to be unwilling to extend the guaranteed places to five, which leaves the possibility of host nations missing out on their own tournament. Uefa is expected to draft regulations that will minimise this risk before qualification for the tournament begins in 2026.
England and Scotland hosted matches during the delayed men’s Euro 2020 tournament, with Hampden and Wembley hosting six group stage matches between them and the English national stadium hosting five matches in the knockout stages. The semi-final between England and Denmark and the final between England and Italy were marred by violent scenes there. The FA apologised for the “significant levels of crowd disorder” that accompanied the final, with Uefa forcing England to play their next qualifying fixture behind closed doors. The European governing body was otherwise positive about the home nations-staged fixtures, with its president, Aleksander Ceferin, saying the Wembley disorder “could have happened anywhere” and calling London “such a great hub”.
In April the FA’s chair, Debbie Hewitt, laid out the case for the UK and Ireland bid, describing it as “pioneering” and extolling the benefits for the domestic game of hosting the tournament.
“We will focus on growing football, connecting with and engaging new fans, players and volunteers,” she said. “We continue to invest £50m annually into grassroots football development across our five associations. Together, we want Uefa Euro 2028 to be the catalyst for a new and sustainable era for football, from the grassroots to the very top of the European game.”
Uefa confirmed the news in a statement saying: “Further to the announcement on 28 July which revealed the desire of the Italian and Turkish FAs to submit a joint bid to stage Uefa Euro 2032, the Uefa administration has today written to both associations to confirm that their joint bid has been duly received and will go forward for assessment and consideration by the Uefa executive committee.
“As indicated by the FA of Türkiye with its submission of the request for a joint bid, their bid to stage Uefa Euro 2028 is consequently withdrawn. The award of both tournaments still requires the approval of the executive committee at its meeting in Nyon on 10 October. The presentations at that meeting will be an important part of the process which will take due consideration of the content of the bid submissions before reaching a decision.”