The countries that will host 2028 and 2032 UEFA EURO will be officially announced in October. This is expected to be a mere formality, as there has been a merge of two candidates vying for the right to host the later event.

Who will organise Euro 2028 and Euro 2032?

In 2021, UEFA launched the bidding process for Euro 2028 and 2032, with the tournaments initially attracting strong interest from a number of nations. The Republic of Ireland and the UK countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have jointly applied for the right to host 2028 championships. Italy and Turkey have also sent in their application. A similar step was also announced by the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands) and Romania together with Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, as well as Portugal with Spain (the Iberian countries opted out and focused on fighting for the 2030 FIFA World Cup).

From the beginning, there was speculation that the UK and Ireland had the best chance of winning the rights to host the championship. This prompted Italy to withdraw from the race for the tournament quite quickly, focusing instead on winning the opportunity to host Euro 2032. Turkey took a different strategy. The country applied in the competitions to host both the 2028 and 2032 tournaments. This meant that the battles for the rights to the events were to be decided between the UK and Ireland and Turkey and between Italy and Turkey. Russia also applied for the right to host Euro 2032, but its aggression against Ukraine and suspension from UEFA resulted in its automatic rejection.

Allianz Stadium, © Marco Villa 

Turkey and Italy were to fight for the rights to Euro 2032, and will they organise it together?

The twist came 2.5 months before this official learning of UEFA’s final decisions. In a surprising press release published by the organisation , we learned that Turkey had dropped its bid to host Euro 2028, meaning that the confirmation of Great Britain and Ireland as hosts of the championship in October would be a formality. More surprising, however, was what happened in the context of Euro 2032. We learnt that the FIGC and the TFF had reached an agreement, and had also preliminarily received UEFA's approval regarding the merging of their candidacies. This has resulted in the almost certainty of Italy and Turkey hosting the event! Confirmation of this in October therefore seems a formality.

For the time being, however, it is not known which stadiums in both countries will live to receive this honour. The following venues were on offer in Italy: Milan (Nuovo Stadio Milano), Turin (Allianz Stadium), Verona (Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi), Genoa (Stadio Luigi Ferraris), Bologna (Stadio Renato Dall'Ara), Florence (Stadio Artemio Franchi), Rome (Roma's new stadium), Naples (Stadio Diego Armando Maradona), Bari (Stadio San Nicola) and Cagliari (new Stadio Cagliari). The Turkish bid has identified these arenas: Istanbul (Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Rams Park and Ülker Stadium), Ankara (New Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium), Bursa (Sütaş Timsah Park), Konya (Medaş Konya Büyükşehir Stadyumu), Trabzon (Şenol Güneş Sports Complex), Antalya (Corendon Airlines Park), Eskişehir (Atatürk Stadium), Gaziantep (Kalyon Stadium). If Italians and Turks split the rights half and half, they will have to select 5 venues each in their countries.

It has been known for several years that the best teams in Europe will come to Germany next year. Euro 2024 will kick off on 14 June in Munich and end on 14 July in Berlin. The title won in 2021 will be defended by the Italians.

Medaş Konya Büyükşehir Stadyumu, © Bahadir Kul