EM 2028 and EM 2032: UEFA announces venues

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland will host the 2028 European Championship, while Turkey and Italy will host the EURO 2032 – UEFA announced this on Tuesday (October 10, 2023). However, the winners had long since been decided.

After the European Football Association rejected Russia’s applications for the two tournaments after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, there were no longer any opposing candidates for the two multi-country applicants – who then also agreed on the division. At the end of July, Turkey and Italy applied to be allowed to host the tournament in 2032 – and when UEFA agreed, the way was also clear for the British-Irish bid to become the venue for the 2028 European Championship. The vote on Tuesday in Nyon was just a formality.

Two legendary stadiums in England not included

At the tournament in five years, six of the ten venues will be in England, where games will take place in two London stadiums at Wembley (the final will also be played there) and the Tottenham Hotspur Arena, as well as at the stadiums of Manchester City, Newcastle United and Aston Villa in Birmingham and the not yet finished one at Everton FC. Liverpool FC’s Anfield Road and Manchester United’s Old Trafford are not included. The remaining four venues are Cardiff (Wales), Glasgow (Scotland), Dublin (Ireland) and Belfast (Northern Ireland).

Hardly any individual countries are applying

The venues for the 2032 European Championship have not yet been determined. With the double award to Turkey (hosts for the first time) and Italy, the trend continues that there are increasingly fewer applications for the expanded tournaments and hardly any candidacies from individual countries. The 2030 World Cup is expected to start with three games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay and will then be played in Morocco, Spain and Portugal. This still has to be confirmed by the congress of the world association FIFA. The 2026 world tournament will take place in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

Due to the expansion of the European Championship to 24 participants and 51 games, there are fewer and fewer candidates in Europe who can manage the tournament on their own. Two years ago, the continental tournament took place in a total of eleven countries during the Corona crisis.

* UEFA had meanwhile considered expanding the tournament to 32 teams. However, as things stand, the idea has been rejected; the plans initially continue to refer to a tournament with 24 teams.