Euro 2020 to be held Europe-wide

[simplythebest 0]

The 2020 European Championship finals will be held in a number of cities across Europe, Uefa has announced.

 

It means there will be no one country hosting the tournament, which will have expanded to 24 teams by then.

Image of David Bond David Bond BBC sports editor

 

"When the inevitable outcry has died down, this is maybe not such a bad idea. A 'Euros for Europe', as Uefa president Michel Platini put it, would take the pressure off hosts to deliver 10 or maybe more stadiums capable of hosting big international games.

 

Read more from the BBC sports editor here

 

The Football Association has already put forward Wembley to European governing body Uefa as a possible venue for the final.

 

Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland have also expressed their interest in staging matches to Uefa.

 

And Jonathan Ford, chief executive of the FA of Wales, has previously said the FAW would want Cardiff to be a "host city" under Platini's plan.

 

Following Thursday's announcement, Ford said the plan was a "fantastic idea" but stressed fans should not have to travel long distances at great expense.

 

"The idea of hub areas should be very seriously considered. We don't want fans going from east to west," he said.

 

"The proximity of say Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast and Dublin is even closer than one end of Ukraine to the other. There's many a situation I can see where you can have group hubs to make it a great fan experience."

 

A spokesperson for the Football Supporters' Federation said the move was "one which will divide fans' opinions".

 

"When the idea of a pan-European tournament was first proposed our primary concern was that supporters across the continent were properly consulted before anything was set in stone.

 

"The FSF will speak to Football Supporters Europe to see what fans from across the continent make of this move."

 

Uefa's executive committee took the decision at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday.

European Championship history

 

First event in 1960 had four teams in the finals out of 17 that entered

Format of a four-team finals continued until 1976

Competition was expanded to eight teams in 1980

In 1996, when the tournament was held in England, 16 teams took part

The 2000 finals were the first to be hosted by two countries (Netherlands and Belgium)

The 2016 finals will be hosted by France with 24 teams to participate

Winners are presented with the Henri Delaunay Trophy, named in honour of the first general secretary of Uefa, whose brainchild the European Championship was

 

Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino told a press conference after the meeting: "Some important decisions have been taken.

 

"Uefa Euro 2020 will be staged across the continent, in various major cities, following a decision taken today. A Euro for Europe follows an initial idea by Uefa president Michel Platini, who described it as 'an idea I feel really passionate about'.

 

"The response has been extremely positive from all the national associations."

 

Infantino confirmed that only Turkey, who had had initially bid to host Euro 2020, opposed the decision through the country's Uefa vice-president Senes Erzik.

 

The next competition in 2016 will be hosted by France and will be played with 24 qualifiers at the finals.

 

Infantino added the bidding process for the host cities would start in March and decisions would be made in the spring of 2014.

 

Platini, who won the tournament in 1984 with France, floated the idea as a way of avoiding high costs at a time of financial hardship in many countries.

 

Higher than expected costs and building delays caused problems for the 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

 

"It will be a lot easier from a financial perspective for all the countries," Platini said in June.

 

"If you need to build airports or 10 stadiums in a country, this would be rather easy because it would be one stadium per host city."

 

Former FA chief executive Mark Palios to BBC Radio 5 live: "The big downside is fans' travel, both in terms of getting the opportunity to follow your team and knowing where you're going to be based.

 

"Hopefully they can plan something which takes that into account. Otherwise it's a sensible suggestion by Uefa. It gives everybody a chance to share in it rather than just the larger countries."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20631963

[Gribz 743]

The beginning of the end to domestic football. UEFA are killing the game by globalising it with the likes of this plus what they have done with the CL and Uefa cup.

 

This idea is just silly.

 

Although I think something deeper is behind this but we wont get into that.

[Gazza_8 233]

This tournament is to be sponsored by Mad Dog.