UK and Ireland to host Euro 2028 as Italy, Turkey awarded Euro 2032

Head of Italian delegation and Italian former professional football player Gianluigi Buffon (L) and Turkish coach, former football player and head of the ambassador of the Turkish delegation Volkan Demirel (R) pose after Italy and Turkey were elected to host the Euro 2032 fooball tournament during the announcement ceremony at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon on October 10, 2023. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland will co-host Euro 2028, while Italy and Turkey will be joint hosts of the 2032 tournament, UEFA announced on Tuesday.

Both bids ran unopposed but still needed official approval from European football’s governing body, which they received at a meeting in Switzerland.

Turkey last week withdrew from the bidding process for Euro 2028, clearing the path for Britain and Ireland, who shelved plans to bid to host the 2030 World Cup to focus on staging the European Championship.

Turkey, which has bid unsuccessfully to stage every Euro going back to 2008, was initially a candidate for both 2028 and 2032.

However, in July it agreed to join Italy in a bid for the 2032 edition, without saying at the time if it would pull out of the running for 2028.

England, which hosted the women’s Euro last year, last hosted a major men’s tournament in 1996, when the European Championship involved just 16 teams.

It also hosted the final of the 24-team Euro 2020, delayed by a year due to the pandemic and held in venues across Europe, at Wembley.

Between them, England and Scotland hosted 12 games during that tournament.

Italy also hosted matches in Rome at Euro 2020 but has not hosted a tournament on its own since the 1990 World Cup.

It hosted the final stages of the four-team Euro in 1968 and the eight-team