Euro 2028: Great Britain and Ireland enter the race with 14 stadiums

Final venue Wembley again? In 2021 and 2022, the European Championship finals were held in London.
IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

“Football for everyone. Football forever. Football for the future” – this is the vision for the tournament. A binding commitment to diversity, social goals and innovation should be key to implementation, according to an FA statement on Wednesday. The organizers, who officially announced their interest at the end of March, said they wanted to host a world-class tournament that would leave a strong and lasting legacy for football and society.

If these lofty goals are to be achieved, English audiences will need to behave better both inside and outside the stadiums than at the 2021 European Championship, which has seen some very unsavory scenes focusing mainly on the “Three Lions” knockout games in London. The last Women’s European Championship 2022 was quiet and atmospheric.

The stadium list still needs to be narrowed down

A list of 14 potential destinations has been proposed by 2028, which should be narrowed down to ten more. There are nine stadiums in England: Villa Park (Birmingham), Everton Stadium (then newly built, Liverpool), London Stadium (home of West Ham United), Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Wembley and Manchester Stadium (better known as Etihad Stadium), St. James’s Park (Newcastle), Stadium of Light (Sunderland) and Old Trafford (Manchester).

There are also venues in Ireland (Dublin Arena and Croke Park), Northern Ireland (Casement Park Stadium, Belfast), Scotland (Hampton Park, Glasgow) and Wales (National Stadium of Wales, Cardiff).

EURO award in 2028 and 2032 – expansion to 32 teams?

Turkey is the only other candidate to host the tournament. The award, presented by UEFA, will take place in autumn 2023. Later EURO 2032 will also be awarded. Turkey has also applied for the tournament. Rival Italy, which initially wanted to apply for 2028, is now fully focused on 2032 in order to have more time to modernize stadiums.

There is speculation about expanding the starting EURO field to 32 teams after the 2024 tournament in Germany. More than half of the 55 UEFA member associations will be involved.