The UK and Ireland are set to be named joint hosts of Euro 2028, as no rival bids are on the table ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.
Russia had been expected to run as contenders, but its bid has been abandoned following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Italy plans to bid for Euro 2032 instead, while Turkey also appears to have ruled out challenging the British and Irish bid.
It means England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland are expected to land the tournament uncontested. Barring a surprise late entry, UEFA will formally name them as the hosts on April 7.
There had been fears the British and Irish bid could be derailed by crowd trouble at last year’s Euro 2020 Final at Wembley, but the FA were assured by UEFA that the disorder would not impact its chances.
A UK and Ireland bid is attractive to UEFA, given the huge earning potential of staging the tournament here. The organisers have been hit hard financially by the Covid pandemic, and a Euros in the UK and Ireland would give them a big boost.
Having the infrastructure in place — the stadiums, training grounds and transport links — is also a strong factor in favour of UK and Ireland.
The deadline for bids is tomorrow and UEFA are expected to announce candidates on April 5. A formal decision on the hosts will be made on April 7, the date of the next UEFA executive committee meeting.
The joint bid has already received support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which said in February that “hosting the full tournament would be an exciting opportunity”. The Irish Government is expected to give its backing in the next 24 hours.
The original plan for UK and Ireland was to bid for the 2030 World Cup, but that proposal was scrapped in February. The decision came after a feasibility study — understood to have cost the Government around £2.8million — recommended a change of tack.
The study included an analysis of the economic impact, football’s political landscape and likely costs of hosting major international tournaments.
It was concluded that hosting the Euros offered a similar return on investment to a World Cup, but with a far lower delivery cost and with the benefits potentially being realised sooner.
Spain and Portugal are now established as frontrunners from Europe to host the 2030 World Cup.
After crowd trouble marred the Euro 2020 Final, there had been fears it could dent England’s hopes of being hosts for major tournaments in the future.
England were ordered to play one match behind closed doors as a punishment, while the FA were fined £84,560.
The FA also launched their own investigation to find out the cause of the trouble and to ensure lessons were learned.
