UEFA sets qualification
© Imago
The European Football Union does not issue a free ticket to the four host teams of the EM 2028. England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland will all compete in one of the twelve groups of qualification, as the UEFA announced after a meeting of the Executive Committee in Bilbao. However, there will be two reserved places for the two best and at the same time not qualified hosts.
The European Championship is to take place in nine stadiums from June 9th to July 9th, 2028. Six of them are in England, and Glasgow, Cardiff and Dublin are represented. In qualifications, twelve groups with four or five teams are formed. The twelve group winners and the eight best second qualify for the tournament, which will be played for the fourth time after 2016, 2021 and 2024 with 24 teams.
The size of the following playoffs depends on the number of hosts who have qualified in sports. If all four nations make it through the qualification, four places would be free. If two hosts miss the qualification, there were only two tickets left. If a host leaves the jump to the European Championship, there would be three places – in this case, twelve instead of eight teams would start in the playoffs.