This Tuesday, UEFA chose the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland as co-organizers of Euro 2028. In addition, the European football body has also approved the awarding of the next championship to Italy and Turkey, in 2032. The double decision, announced in Nyon (Switzerland), headquarters of UEFA, arrives after Turkey withdrew last week from the race to win the 2028 edition. Thus, England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were left with a clear path, since who were the only competitors, to be able to take the biggest event in European national football to the islands. The Turks, who joined forces with Italy, ensure that in 2032 the Euro Cup will be played partially on their territory. The double decision must still be endorsed by the UEFA executive committee.
The Euro 2028 matches will be played in 10 stadiums, including Wembley (London), Hampden Park (Glasgow), the Principality Stadium (Cardiff) and the Aviva Stadium (Dublin). The granting of the tournament to the United Kingdom and Ireland comes after several countries tried to achieve it in recent years. Thus, Denmark expressed interest in 2016 to join Sweden, Norway and Finland, but its plan was ultimately not presented. Also the possibility of a project between Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia was quickly ruled out. In 2018, Spain and Portugal announced their intention to collaborate in the organization of the Euro Cup or the 2030 World Cup, the latter tournament in which they put more interest and finally achieved it last week together with Morocco and the South Americans Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. Last year, Russia also announced its desire to try, but UEFA deemed this unfeasible for 2028 and 2032 due to the invasion of Ukraine. For its part, Turkey was the clearest rival to the British-Irish candidacy. The Turks had proposed for two years, but finally their decision to withdraw from 2028 and join Italy for 2032 paved the way for all the decisions taken today by UEFA.
The next edition of the Euro will be held next year in Germany, between June 14 and July 14, an event for which European teams are fighting to qualify. Among them, Spain, which has a double commitment this week, against Scotland at home (Thursday, 8:45 p.m.) and in Norway (Sunday, 8:45 p.m.).
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