UEFA Names UK, Ireland as Euro 2028 Hosts

Facts

• The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has announced that the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland will host the 2028 European Football Championship, while Italy and Turkey will host the tournament in 2032.¹
• The Euro 2028 will take place in 10 different stadiums across the UK and Ireland, including Wembley Stadium (London), Principality Stadium (Cardiff), Hampden Park (Glasgow), Aviva Stadium (Dublin), and Casement Park (Belfast).²
• However, all the host countries will reportedly have to go through the qualification process for Euro 2028, with only two “safety net” berths prescribed for any who fail to reach the tournament on merit.³
• The UEFA’s executive committee approved the five-nation bid on Tuesday, but the hosts were reportedly as good as decided last week, after Turkey withdrew from the race.⁴
• Russia, which hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup, had initially declared an interest in hosting the Euro in either the 2028 or 2032 tournament, but the Russian Football Union was ruled ineligible by the UEFA due to the war in Ukraine.⁵

Sources: ¹Complete sports, ²Yahoo sports, ³Guardian, ⁴Al Jazeera and ⁵Abc news.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Associated Press. Euro 2024 is set to be an increasingly rare example of a tournament held in a single host nation. With Euro 2028 to be held amongst five geographically close countries and Euro 2032 to be held in two cities nearly 870 miles apart, watching football live is about to get a lot more logistically complicated for those true fanatics of the sport.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. Although the UEFA has rules stating that only neighboring member federations can propose co-hosting events together, Turkey and Italy co-hosting Euro 2032 is a win-win situation. Both countries will only be required to provide five stadiums each, giving the UEFA greater stability and making the responsibility of hosting less of a burden on each nation.