UK and Ireland to host Euro 2028 as UEFA confirm football is coming home

10 October 2023 , 10:06

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UK and Ireland to host Euro 2028 as UEFA confirm football is coming home

UEFA have announced that the United Kingdom and Ireland will host Euro 2028 after they were left as the sole bidder for the tournament.

Turkey pulled out of the running last week and will instead pursue a different bid which means the tournament will be played exclusively on British and Irish soil for the first time. The UK and Ireland opted to come together back in February last year and lodge a joint-bid as they axed plans to push for the World Cup in 2030.

Russia and Turkey were those aiming to rival the home nations bid last year, but they have both pulled out for different reasons. The former have seen their clubs banned from UEFA competitions following their invasion on Ukraine, which gave their application little hope of succeeding.

And last week a statement from UEFA confirmed Turkey's U-turn, which means they will now the host the 2032 tournament along with Italy. They said: "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the FA of Türkiye with its submission of the request for a joint bid, their bid to stage UEFA EURO 2028 is consequently withdrawn.

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"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."

Wembley hosted the Euro 2020 final, but it will be the first time the entire tournament is in the UK and Ireland (Getty Images)

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England last hosted the Euros in 1996 as they went all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Germany. Wembley and Hampden Park were host stadiums in the continental tournament that took place in 2021 with the London-based stadium hosting the semi-finals and final.

It was confirmed in April that Wembley (London), the Principality Stadium (Cardiff), Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London), the Etihad Stadium (Manchester), Everton Stadium (Liverpool), St James' Park (Newcastle), Villa Park (Birmingham), Hampden Park (Glasgow), the Aviva Stadium (Dublin) and Casement Park (Belfast) will be the stadiums to host the tournament.

Euro 2028 is expected to be the first tournament that includes 32 nations, rather than the 24 it currently stands at. That is despite the tournament expanding from its previous number of 16 back in 2016. UEFA's rules also prohibit more than two countries qualifying automatically by virtue of hosting the tournament, leaving decisions to be made with five potential host nations.

Samuel Meade