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Euro 2028: UK and Ireland Line Up to Host the European Championship
The 2028 UEFA European Championship may still be a long way from now but there are already talks on which country is going to host this event. This will be the 18th edition of the UEFA European Championship and the host should be named by the end of next year.
The UEFA European Championship is the second-most-watched football tournament in the world next to the FIFA World Cup. Each year, millions are bet on this sports event and even if the next UEFA Euro is 2 years away from now, some fans are already monitoring the teams that they are interested to bet on.
Some of the sites that offer UEFA Euro odds are Bovada, BetUS, and Bet22. Visit the review of 22Bet Nigeria for more info. Based on the latest odds, England is the current favorite. The upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 will be hosted by Germany and will run from June 14 to July 14 of that year.
Initially, the venue of the 2024 UEFA was announced in 2017 with two countries, which are Germany and Turkey. It was in 2018 when Germany was selected as the host in Switzerland. This is most likely what’s also going to happen next year between the United Kingdom and Ireland.
UK and Ireland are Confident
So far, no other countries have placed a bid to stage the 2028 UEFA Euro aside from the UK and Ireland. The deadline to submit a bid is March 23rd. There are still no reports of other countries are looking to place a bid before Wednesday.
Other countries that were initially thought to rival these two bids were Italy and Russia. However, Italy is now expected to bid on Euro 2032 instead. Meanwhile, Russia can’t place a bid right now because of the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine. All of them, including the UK and Ireland, have also abandoned the idea to bid for the 2030 World Cup.
Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the Football Association (FA), spoke about the bidding landscape for these tournaments recently. Bullingham said, “When you look at it for the Euros, we’ve got a very clear bidding landscape and bidding timeline and, when we assess everything for that, we know we can put together a highly-competitive bid.
“I think with the World Cup, there are many areas of uncertainty, in terms of the timeline, in terms of the frequency of the events, and so on.”
If no other countries bid for the 2028 UEFA Euro, the UK and Ireland will be confirmed as hosts on April 7. However, if there will be more bids, the official bidders will then be announced on April 5.
More Details on the Bidding and Tournament
Aside from the deadline to express interest in the bid to host the tournament, the deadline for proof of government support and funding will also be due this year. UEFA is also set to decide whether there will be 32 teams to compete in the 2028 edition instead of 24.
The CEO of Football Association Wales (FAW) spoke to PA news about the possibilities before the March 23rd deadline. Noel Mooney said, “I think we’ll get a sense very quickly after [the 23rd March deadline] if we’re the only bidder or if someone else has chosen to bid.
“We’ve enjoyed a really good relationship with the other four national associations during the skeleton bid – if you want to call it that. We feel it’s a brilliant bid and a brilliant Euros that would come to Wales. We feel we have put forward a very good bid and we’re very excited about bringing the Euros to Cardiff.”
Mooney further explained their qualification to organize the tournament and said, “We’ve got a concept and that’s all it is because we’re not the competition organizers. There will have to be qualifications because they are not going to give five countries automatic qualifications.
“It’s only a concept at the moment but you could have positions for one or two countries that don’t qualify from the host areas. We’re trying to put something together that would be palatable to UEFA but also in the best interests of the host countries. The way it sounds, it’s going from 24 teams to 32 and I hope we can qualify emphatically from that number with all the talent coming through in Wales.”
When it comes to broadcasting rights, only Bulgaria and Romania have already made an official announcement. NOVA has the rights in Bulgaria, and for Romania, Pro TV has it.
