“The designation of the organizing countries” of the two competitions “will take place in September 2023”, specified the European body, adding that the interested countries had until this Wednesday to present their candidacies and that they must confirm it before April 5.
Russia and Turkey aspire to organize either of the two editions of the continental tournament, the European body added, while the United Kingdom/Ireland is interested in Euro 2028 and Italy in the 2032 edition.
The 2018 World Cup host country had long shown interest in hosting the European national team tournament for the first time, but its bid seemed hypothetical after its exclusion from most international competitions in reaction to its invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the fact that UEFA and FIFA decided on February 28 to exclude all Russian clubs and teams from their tournaments “until further notice”, the federation of this country (FUR) has not been directly excluded, a spokesperson for the European confederation.
The UEFA executive “will reassess the legal situation” in future meetings, especially on April 7 and May 10, “including the declaration of interest expressed by the FUR,” said this source.
The UEFA regulations reserve the allocation of its tournaments to member federations “that are not suspended or excluded”, which leaves a track open to the body if it wants to quickly rule out the Russian candidacy.
The candidacies of Turkey and Russia alter the plans of the British-Irish alliance, which the press of these countries already gave as the only candidate last Monday, after they recently abandoned the race to host the 2030 World Cup to focus on the European Championship 2028.
If the five federations involved (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland) win the organization of the tournament, it will be the fifth time that the European Championship has been organized jointly, a trend that began in 2000 with Belgium and the Netherlands.
UEFA, however, has hinted on numerous occasions that the experience of the summer of 2021, in which Euro 2020 was staged in cities in eleven countries across the continent, from London to Baku, was not going to be replicated.
Italy, which won the last edition of a tournament that it has already organized twice (1968 and 1980), is the favorite to host Euro 2032, compared to Turkey, which in 2018 already lost the organization of the next edition against Germany.
In addition to the thorny issue of the Russian candidacy, the race for the attribution of these tournaments collides with two other delicate issues in world football: the refounding of the international calendar and human rights.
By announcing Euro 2028, UEFA takes it for granted that the World Cup will not be held that year, despite the fact that FIFA aims to organize the largest national team tournament every two years from 2026, an initiative that is opposed by many football players. In fact, the same threat hovers over the 2032 edition.
On the other hand, UEFA is expected to rule on conditioning the organization of its competitions to countries in which human rights are respected, after several NGOs and humanitarian organizations denounced last December a “significant step backwards” by UEFA in this matter, despite having imposed very precise conditions on Germany to give it Euro 2024.
Source: Ambito
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