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By Aaron Hindhaugh • Published: 04 Oct 2023 • 14:13 • 2 minutes read
Image of Wembley Stadium. Credit: Arne Müseler/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 de
The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are set to co-host the European Championships during the summer of 2028.
It was well-documented that the UK and Ireland were the frontrunners to secure the rights to host Euro 2028, but they were still up against Turkye who had dreams of hosting it on their own just in their country.
That was going to see both sides head off the Uefa’s headquarters next Tuesday for a day of presenting and convincing the top officials why their bid was the best one for Uefa as well as the rest of Europe.
While the UK and Ireland were very confident they would be able to land the summer tournament given how many high-profile games have been held in England and at Wembley at least, in recent years and the infrastructure is already in place, they have been handed a huge late boost.
This is because Turkey have decided to pull out of the running less than a week before they were due in front of Uefa to deliver a presentation, leaving the UK and Ireland as the sole runners for the 2028 football tournament.
Turkey has not completely thrown in the towel though when it comes to hosting a major international tournament because they have a joint bid with Italy to hold the Euros in 2030 across both countries and they see that as a more likely chance of winning instead of going up against five countries.
It’s a huge boost for all of the home nations, but it’s not all rosy with many hurdles still to overcome before 2028 rolls around that will see all countries engulfed in arguments and disputes such as which countries get what games and how many will be played in each stadium.
Given England have the majority of stadiums that can be used given their capacity and infrastructure, they will almost certainly host the majority of games including the final very likely to be held at Wembley.
If that is to be the case and thousands of fans will descend on Wembley way in the summer of 2028, then Uefa will look for promises from the FA and ensure they will be able to avoid a repeat of the 2021 final that saw chaos consume the final.
England took on Italy at Wembley as fans dreamed of football coming home but with people driving from early on in the day, chaos commenced and a whole lot of people managed to break through security and barriers and got into the ground without possessing a ticket, and it certainly left a grey cloud over England hosting major sporting events.
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Qualified and experienced journalist covering all aspects of news and sport. Specialist in both Men's and Women's football with increasing coverage of golf and tennis.
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