UEFA EURO 2024 bids

[Laurence2011]

any Finnish involvment? Norway-Denmark does sound like a nice bid though

[Maartendev]

Another Euro in the Netherlands would be nice as well. I think that we would be able to host it by ourselves without Belgium, but if needed Belgium can help us off course.

But, i think that a European Championship in Spain would be great as well. Spain has some really decent stadiums by then. Italy or Turkey would be good as well.

[R-KK]

All Europe countries that didnt host are ok for me, but Denmark has great football tradition too and they didnt host

[Fabri88]

Originally Posted by Sylver

Spain or Netherlands would be nice

Spain AND Netherlands would be more!

I think that European championships must be thought to be organized also by non-bordering countries.

Europe is a single country I think and so I wouldn't see any problem to move throughout the same country.

Sure, the schedule must be thought in order to constrain supporters to move as least as possible.

[Fabri88]

Originally Posted by Laurence2011

are Italy planning to bid? I heard they were

No Euro in Italy until the law purposal to cut burocracy on stadiums construction is approved.

When Poland and Ukraine's bid won no one in Italy gave a penny that they would do it. But now we see that they did it! 7 marvellous stadiums were built up (Kharkiv I think is a black sheep).

[R-KK]

Originally Posted by Fabri88

Spain AND Netherlands would be more!

I think that European championships must be thought to be organized also by non-bordering countries.

Europe is a single country I think and so I wouldn't see any problem to move throughout the same country.

Sure, the schedule must be thought in order to constrain supporters to move as least as possible.

the countries between them would be offended

[Mr.Underground]

ITALY 2024. Best solution.

[vanjaz]

Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.

[alexandru.mircea]

My take is Turkey for 2020 and Germany for 2024. England and Spain should get world cups.

[prahovaploiesti]

I don't know.
I think the World Cup won't come to Europe until 2034.
We have:
2014 - Brazil
2018 - Russia
2022 - Qatar
2026 - could be China or Australia
2030 - could be USA or USA & Canada

[Gombos]

Romania and Hungary/Bulgaria if Turkey will get the 2020.

[3SPIRES]

Spain has been waiting 8 years longer than Italy to host major tournament. SPAIN 2024!

[OwnTheNight]

2024 will be in Azerbaijan & Georgia

[hater]

noope azerbaijan will keep bidding for olympics if they don't get 2020 olympics

[PAO13]

Greece & Cyprus FTW

[Quintana]

Albania & Macedonia

[MS20]

Originally Posted by Quintana

Albania & Macedonia

Good luck with that one

[Kadıkoylu]

I.T.A.L.Y

[neiliog93]

I've been doing some research into the idea of a joint Republic of Ireland - Scotland bid for Euro 2024 (possibly Euro 2028) and only joined the forum so I could comment on this post. Despite encountering the type of negativity that typifies the post-colonialism inferiority complex seen in both countries, I think it's perfectly feasible.

The requirements for hosting the European Championships are stipulated as such:

1) All stadiums must be all-seater
2) 9 stadiums required
3) Two stadiums with a capacity in excess of 50,000
4) Another three stadiums with a capacity in excess of 40,000
5) Another four stadiums with a capacity in excess of 30,000
6) An additional 10th stadium with a capacity in excess of 30,000 may be required due to the expanded 24-team format

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Irish sport, the two most popular sports in Ireland are Gaelic sports, known as hurling and gaelic football. They have a lot of stadiums, but most are not modern (i.e not all-seater). However, there are plans to develop a 45,000 capacity all-seater stadium known as "Páirc Uí Chaoimh" (Gaelic name) in Cork, Ireland's second city. These plans are not going to be affected by the recession. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association, governing body of Gaelic games) do not like letting the FAI (Football Association of Ireland) use their stadiums, but they have allowed it in the past when offered a slice of ticket sales (and believe me, they need the money at the moment). If the Irish government offered to pay for some of the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh (it wouldn't be too costly and the economy will have turned around by 2018, or 2020 at the latest), as well as a slice of the ticket sales in return for the use of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, I'm sure the GAA would relent and allow them to use it during the Euro 2024/2028 tournament.

With that in mind and assuming the stadium is constructed and in use by the time the games come around, here is how an Ireland-Scotland bid would satisfy UEFA's criteria.


1) Two stadiums over 50,000:

i) Croke Park (Dublin, Ireland). Capacity: 82,300 (Owned by the GAA but they've allowed it to be used for football/rugby before and could be convinced to do so again....with money)

ii) Murrayfield (Edinburgh, Scotland). Capacity: 67,100 (Primarily a rugby stadium but state-owned so no problems there)

2) Further three stadiums over 40,000

i) Celtic Park (Glasgow, Scotland). Capacity: 60,800
ii) Hampden Park (Glasgow, Scotland). Capacity: 52,063
iii) Lansdowne Road (now known as Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland). Capacity: 51,700

3) Further four stadiums over 30,000

i) Ibrox (Glasgow, Scotland). Capacity: 51,000
ii) Páirc Uí Chaoimh (Cork, Ireland). Capacity: 45,000 (Owned by GAA as previously explained and not redeveloped yet, but neither should be a problem by 2024/2028 as plans haven't been shelved in face of the recession, and recession will be gone by c. 2018 anyway, which is in plenty of time)
iii) Pittodrie Stadium (Aberdeen, Scotland). Capacity: 22,200 (could be expanded to 30,000 + and plans are afoot to do so anyway)
iv) Thomond Park (Limerick, Ireland). Capacity: 26,500 (only 15,600 seated but there is scope to expand the stadium. Could be expanded to 30,000 + capacity with relatively small expense). Limerick is Ireland's fourth city by the city population itself, but rises to third place if one judges by the population of the metropolitan area.


The stadium held in reserve could be McHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo, West Ireland which has a planned all-seated capacity of 42,000 after a redevelopment that has the green light. I don't have it listed among the main nine stadiums partly because it is owned by the GAA, and partly because of its peripheral location. The West of Ireland is a remote place and the population of the Castlebar Town area is just 15,000, and it is not close to any Irish city and its infrastructure would be leaving a lot to desire. However, I feel it is good enough to be the probably unnecessary "10th stadium" or as UEFA call it, the "reserve stadium".

There are other options in Scotland, including Tannacide Park, Easter Road, Rugby Park and Tynecastle stadiums, which all have a capacity of over 17,000 and are all-seated (capacity increase needed to 30,000 though). The RDS Arena in Dublin has an all-seated capacity of 16,500, but due to its residential surroundings, would be difficult to redevelop. There are multiple high-capacity GAA stadiums around Ireland, but many include large areas of terracing (i.e standing areas) and therefore would require extensive redevelopment. Additionally, many are in rural towns , which would not have the infrastructure to support all the things a European Championships entails.

There are two other GAA stadiums in Ireland whose location in or near a city means they are suitable for being used at a European Championships. They are the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick (capacity 49,500 but only 35,000 seated, extensive redevelopment required) and Pearse Stadium in Galway, capacity 34,000 but not all-seater, and therefore redevelopment also required). Galway is Ireland's third city by the city population itself, but drops to fourth place by the population of the metropolitan area.


Other issues might be UEFA's penchant for a spanking new stadium as the flagship of the tournament, but the sprucing up of Celtic Park for the Commonwealth games as well as the modern nature of most of the stadium involved should suffice.

As I've highlighted, with the co-operation of the GAA secured and the redevelopment of several stadiums in both countries, it is perfectly reasonable for them to host a championship. The economy will have picked up by the time the championships come around as well, so that is not a concern (Ireland are expected to bid for the rugby world cup in 2023 as well).

Neither Ireland nor Scotland have ever hosted a major championships, and UEFA haven't gone this far West in Europe since Euro 96 went to England. I think it's reasonable for one of Euro 2024 or Euro 2028 to go to Ire-Sco. An Eastern European combo will get Euro 2020, with one of Euro 2024 or Euro 2028 going to Italy or Spain, and the remaining championship from 2024 and 2028 going to Sco-Ire (hopefully anyway). That is fair and makes sense. Ireland-Scotland have also already been overlooked for previous tournaments as well.

If the Ireland-Scotland idea does not work out, although I think it will, Ireland-Scotland-Wales could launch a triple-bid, as has been proposed before. Although UEFA discourage this, they have said that they'd allow it in "exceptional circumstances".

Apologies for the length of this reply, but I've done a lot of research and as an Irishman I'm passionate about this happening.

Thoughts?

[Fizmo1337]

I think Turkey deserves a EURO, 2020 hopefully and I guess they will get it. The competition for euro 2020 isn't _that_ hard. Most other bid for the 1st or 2nd time and aren't as good as the turkish one, who now bid for the 4th time.

For 2024 I'm not too sure. A scandinavian bid wouldn't be bad, as would a euro in scotland & ireland/wales. Or maybe Italy or Spain allthough I favour the big countries to bid for the WC. But I understand with the WC coming less to Europe, the bigger countries will begin to bid aswell for the euro's, especially with the 24 teams tournament now and the fact a euro is very big now aswell.

It will depend on the bids for me who I favour of organising euro 2024. If italy/spain build a lot of new stadiums, maybe, but otherwise a scandinavian bid or scotland & wales/ireland bid. Those countries have a long history in european football and deserve it. I wouldn't actually mind 3 countries organising it. There will be 24 teams anyway and from those 3 most likely 1 or 2 would qualify anyway so I wouldn't mind.

If there's another interesting (in eastern europe?) bid I first want to see their project.