Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup, won by France in Moscow
(Picture: Getty Images)The UK and Ireland will face competition from Turkey in their bid to host Euro 2028, while Russia have also remarkably declared an interest in staging the tournament.
Russia - World Cup hosts in 2018 - had originally been expected to bid for hosting rights, though it was thought those plans had been abandoned following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and their subsequent sporting exile that included a ban from all international football that is being challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Turkey had also appeared to have ruled out challenging the British and Irish bid, which earlier this week seemed to have no rivals as they were expected to land the tournament uncontested.
However, ahead of Wednesday’s 5pm Uefa deadline, the Football Union of Russia’s executive committee surprisingly gave its backing to the decision to declare interest in European Championship bids for 2028 and 2032.
Turkey have now also officially confirmed their application to host the tournament in six years’ time.
“The Turkish Football Federation has made an official candidacy application to UEFA for the 2028 European Football Championship finals to be held in Turkey,” read a statement from the Turkish FA.
“UEFA will make its decision on hosting Euro 2028 after evaluating the files of the candidate countries in the upcoming period.”
UEFA are expected to announce official candidates to host Euro 2028 on April 5. A formal decision on the hosts will then be made on April 7, the date of the next UEFA executive committee meeting.
More to follow
