UK and Ireland to launch bid for Euro 2028 after ditching World Cup plans

The home nations and Ireland are to launch a joint bid for the men’s European Championship in 2028 after plans to host the 2030 World Cup were abandoned.

The decision was made after a feasibility study into the 2030 tournament found “many areas of uncertainty” according to the Football Association’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham. A 2030 bid was proposed by the Conservative government in its 2019 manifesto and was described last year as “the right time” to “bring football home” by the prime minister, Boris Johnson.

“We think it’s a brilliant opportunity for the five federations and governments to come together,” Bullingham said of the 2028 bid. “This is the third biggest sports event in the world and we’ve got a good opportunity to bring it to our collective countries and make a massively positive impact.”

Bullingham said the feasibility study had concluded there was little financial difference in bidding for the World Cup over the European Championship. “We’ve looked at two fantastic events in the World Cup and men’s Euros, both of them are multi-billion impact events to our country, they’ve also got a similar return on investment,” he said. “The World Cup is more expensive to bid for and to host, but also generates more revenue.

“We’ve got a very clear bidding landscape and timeline for the Euros. When we assess everything we know we can put together a highly competitive bid. With the World Cup there’s many areas of uncertainty, in terms of the timeline [and] in terms of the frequency of the events and so on.”

The expectation that a feasibility study would find against a 2030 bid has been growing for months, largely due to the political background that often determines the choice of the winners. Spain and Portugal