The UK and Ireland have submitted their Preliminary Bid Dossier to UEFA to host Euro 2028 - naming the homes of Manchester United and Manchester City as two potential stadia to stage fixtures.
Working together, the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland governments say they want to host a tournament that will be a 'catalyst for transformational grassroots football.'
As part of the preliminary bid dossier, the UK and Ireland have submitted a list of 14 stadia 'in famous sporting cities known throughout the world, including destinations that are home to clubs with great European football history and heritage.' United's historic Old Trafford stadium, and the home of current Premier League champions City - the Etihad - are on the list.
As well as Manchester and Trafford, other cities on the list are Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Sunderland, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.
Aston Villa's Villa Park, Everton's new stadium currently under construction, West Ham's London Stadium, Tottenham's 'Tottenham Hotspur Stadium', Newcastle's St James' Park, Sunderland's Stadium of Light and Wembley Stadium are the venues from England that join Old Trafford and the Etihad. To be considered, venues must have a capacity of at least 30,000.
In Dublin, the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park are shortlisted, while Belfast's Casement Park is the sole Northern Irish venue on the list. Hampden Park hosted Euro 2020 games and is listed, as is the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Notably, Liverpool's home Anfield is not on the list, which will be reduced to a final list of 10 stadia to be submitted to UEFA in April.
In response to Wednesday's announcement, United said they were delighted to be included in the preliminary bid and noted their 'rich history' of staging major events - including the opening fixture of the Women's Euro 2022 tournament this summer.
Collette Roche, United’s Chief Operating Officer, said: "Manchester United has regularly staged international fixtures and tournaments at Old Trafford – being part of England’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 1966 and the UEFA Euro 1996 tournament as well as the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer.
"We also staged a successful UEFA Champions League final in 2003 and we are looking forward to hosting an England qualifying match for Euro 2024 against North Macedonia next year – the latest in a long history of England men's fixtures at this historic ground. As a club, Manchester United is fully supportive of the United Kingdom and Ireland bid to bring Euro 2028 to these shores."
UEFA is expected to confirm the final decision on where the 2028 tournament will be held in September 2023.
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