After being awarded the joint European Football Championship with Turkey in 2032, Italy still has three years until the venues are finally decided.
There are ten cities on the Italian football association FIGC’s preliminary list for the now successful application – five of which should remain in October 2026. In addition to the capital Rome, this includes football metropolises such as Milan, with the two clubs AC and Inter, and Naples, home of the current Italian champions SSC Napoli.
After the award, association president Gabriele Gravina said: “Our country must understand that it is time to build new facilities.” The plan is for Italy and Turkey to each have five hosting locations. According to a report in the sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport”, it is possible that the format will still be changed.
Italy’s provisional list also includes Turin, Genoa, Bari, Bologna, Florence, Verona and Cagliari. Another candidate is Palermo, the capital of the Mediterranean island of Sicily. It will not be determined until 2026 where the opening game and final will take place.
Italy and Turkey had already decided in advance to run together. The Turkish association had already failed in several attempts. In the open competition with Italy he would have been an outsider again. However, since the 1990 World Cup host was unlikely to have ten arenas built or renovated that were suitable for the European Championship, both associations competed together.