UEFA Euro 2028

The 2028 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2028 or simply Euro 2028, will be the 18th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship. It will be co-hosted by England, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and is projected to take place from 9 June to 9 July 2028.
Spain are the defending champions after winning the 2024 final against England, one of the upcoming hosts.
On 23 March 2022, UEFA announced that three proposals had been received from countries declaring an interest in hosting the tournament: one from Russia, one from Turkey, and a joint bid by all five UEFA members from the British Isles including Northern Ireland. Russia and Turkey were simultaneously bidding to host Euro 2032.
Russia submitted its bids despite the ongoing ban by UEFA on Russian clubs and national teams due to the country's invasion of Ukraine, and in May 2022 its bids for both 2028 and 2032 were declared ineligible. In early October 2023, Turkey withdrew its submission to focus on bidding for Euro 2032 together with Italy.
The joint bid thus remained unopposed, and was selected unanimously on 10 October 2023 in Nyon, Switzerland, meaning that the tournament would be organised by the Republic of Ireland and the four Home Nations of football, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. By late 2024, the proposed Northern Irish venue of Casement Park in Belfast was dropped, and it was confirmed that Northern Ireland would not host any games as originally planned, nor would it be eligible for automatic qualification.
Euro 2028 will be the fifth European Championship since 2000 to take place in multiple nations. England will be hosting the tournament for the third time, having previously hosted Euro 1996 and eight matches (including the final) of the pan-European Euro 2020. Scotland will be doing so for the second time, after hosting four matches of Euro 2020. For the first time matches of the competition will be played in the Republic of Ireland and Wales.
Per UEFA's bid regulations, the automatic qualification of the hosts can only be guaranteed for up to two host associations. Therefore, it is unclear which host teams may qualify automatically. One plan being considered is that all four host teams (England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales) may enter qualifying, with two automatic spots held in reserve for hosts which fail to qualify. Should two or more host teams fail to qualify, the spots could be awarded to the best-performing hosts.
A revised qualification format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, on 25 January 2023. The qualification format was modified from the previous cycle. The qualifying group stage will feature twelve groups of four or five teams. The winner of each group will qualify for the European Championship, while the second-placed teams will either qualify directly or participate in play-off matches.
On 12 April 2023, ten host stadiums for the Euro 2028 bid were revealed, with the list being confirmed by UEFA on 10 October 2023. Notable omissions include Anfield, which was ineligible to host games due to its pitch dimensions falling short of UEFA's requirements, and Old Trafford, which was ruled out after Manchester United were unable to guarantee whether the stadium would be ready at that time. Stadium of Light, London Stadium, Celtic Park, Ibrox Stadium, Murrayfield Stadium and Croke Park were also shortlisted, but were not chosen. Villa Park in Birmingham was planned to be redeveloped in time for Euro 2028, which would see the stadium's capacity increase from 42,785 to 52,500. However, in December 2023, the redevelopment plans were indefinitely postponed.
Casement Park, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was also included in the bid instead of Northern Ireland's national football stadium, Windsor Park, as the latter does not have a capacity large enough to comply with UEFA rules for hosting European Championship matches. With the redevelopment of Casement Park being delayed and budget increased, it was dropped as a host venue; thus the tournament will have nine host venues.
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