ecfc70
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In Dec 2012 UEFA president Michel Platini confirmed that as a "romantic" one off event to celebrate it's (60th) birthday,
the 2020 European Championships would be held across the entire continent in a total of 12 or 13 cities.
However the format could stick around as only Turkey put a serious bid in originally to hold the tournament. With the
finals expanding from 16 to 24 teams and the number of matches almost doubling and requiring much larger stadiums it will
cost a bomb to host future competitions and it would probably mean Azerbaijan and Russia would be the only people willing
to pony up the cash as the rest of us in Europe are poor and don't have a spare billion kicking around for massively
oversized stadiums that become redundant after the finals.
Countries who host games will not automatically qualify, which means that there could be games hosted in locations who
don't have a team in the finals.
Earlier this year UEFA announced the principles for venue selection:
Twelve cities will host four matches (three group stage matches + one round of 16/quarter-final match). A 13th city
will host the semi-finals and final. Each city will use one venue only. Each association may bid for either or both
of the above packages (same city or two different cities). However, a maximum of one city per country will be
chosen.
The minimum stadium capacities should be 70,000 for semi-finals/final, 60,000 for quarter-finals, and 50,000 for
round of 16 and group matches. Up to two exceptions would be allowed for stadiums of a minimum capacity of 30,000,
limited to group matches and a round of 16 match. Any projected stadiums must start construction by 2016.
For the group stage, a maximum of two host teams will be drawn into each group, with each qualified host team
guaranteed to play two home matches in the group stage. However, there is no guarantee that a host team will play
any knockout matches at home. The composition of teams in the group stage will still be subject to seeding and
draw, but the allocation of host teams to each group will take into account of travel distances (flights between
host cities in the same group should not exceed two hours).
Each team which qualifies for the finals can set up their base camp anywhere, without any obligation of staying in
any of the host countries.
Each host city must have two airports, or two separate airport terminals at a single airport. This is to segregate
rival fans.
Platini has also suggested priority will be given to venues that have never hosted European Championship matches before.
Today, UEFA announced the official list of 32 countries/cities who have applied to host matches
Armenia (Yerevan)
Azerbaijan (Baku)
Belarus (Minsk)
Belgium (Brussels)
Bulgaria (Sofia)
Croatia (Zagreb)
Czech Republic (Prague)
Denmark (Copenhagen)
England (London)
Finland (Helsinki)
France (Lyon)
Macedonia (Skopje)
Germany (Munich)
Greece (Athens)
Hungary (Budapest)
Israel (Jerusalem)
Italy (Rome and Milan)
Kazakhstan (Astana)
Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Poland (Warsaw and Chorzow)
Portugal (Lisbon and Porto)
Republic of Ireland (Dublin)
Romania (Bucharest)
Russia (St Petersburg)
Scotland (Glasgow)
Serbia (Belgrade)
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia)
Sweden (Solna)
Switzerland (Basel)
Turkey (Istanbul)
Ukraine (Kyiv and Donetsk)
Wales (Cardiff)
Rome, Milan, Kiev, Istanbul, Valencia, Athens, Cardiff, Dublin and London are the only cities who've applied with
stadiums big enough to host the semis and final. Rome, Kiev and London have hosted previous finals.
It's also worth noting however that the currently planned Olympic stadium in Baku has a capacity only a couple of hundred
short of the 70k requirement and that Blatter and Platini were there for the ground breaking ceremony last year, neither
of whom have been known to unusually back extremely rich hosts for major tournaments.
the 2020 European Championships would be held across the entire continent in a total of 12 or 13 cities.
However the format could stick around as only Turkey put a serious bid in originally to hold the tournament. With the
finals expanding from 16 to 24 teams and the number of matches almost doubling and requiring much larger stadiums it will
cost a bomb to host future competitions and it would probably mean Azerbaijan and Russia would be the only people willing
to pony up the cash as the rest of us in Europe are poor and don't have a spare billion kicking around for massively
oversized stadiums that become redundant after the finals.
Countries who host games will not automatically qualify, which means that there could be games hosted in locations who
don't have a team in the finals.
Earlier this year UEFA announced the principles for venue selection:
Twelve cities will host four matches (three group stage matches + one round of 16/quarter-final match). A 13th city
will host the semi-finals and final. Each city will use one venue only. Each association may bid for either or both
of the above packages (same city or two different cities). However, a maximum of one city per country will be
chosen.
The minimum stadium capacities should be 70,000 for semi-finals/final, 60,000 for quarter-finals, and 50,000 for
round of 16 and group matches. Up to two exceptions would be allowed for stadiums of a minimum capacity of 30,000,
limited to group matches and a round of 16 match. Any projected stadiums must start construction by 2016.
For the group stage, a maximum of two host teams will be drawn into each group, with each qualified host team
guaranteed to play two home matches in the group stage. However, there is no guarantee that a host team will play
any knockout matches at home. The composition of teams in the group stage will still be subject to seeding and
draw, but the allocation of host teams to each group will take into account of travel distances (flights between
host cities in the same group should not exceed two hours).
Each team which qualifies for the finals can set up their base camp anywhere, without any obligation of staying in
any of the host countries.
Each host city must have two airports, or two separate airport terminals at a single airport. This is to segregate
rival fans.
Platini has also suggested priority will be given to venues that have never hosted European Championship matches before.
Today, UEFA announced the official list of 32 countries/cities who have applied to host matches
Armenia (Yerevan)
Azerbaijan (Baku)
Belarus (Minsk)
Belgium (Brussels)
Bulgaria (Sofia)
Croatia (Zagreb)
Czech Republic (Prague)
Denmark (Copenhagen)
England (London)
Finland (Helsinki)
France (Lyon)
Macedonia (Skopje)
Germany (Munich)
Greece (Athens)
Hungary (Budapest)
Israel (Jerusalem)
Italy (Rome and Milan)
Kazakhstan (Astana)
Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Poland (Warsaw and Chorzow)
Portugal (Lisbon and Porto)
Republic of Ireland (Dublin)
Romania (Bucharest)
Russia (St Petersburg)
Scotland (Glasgow)
Serbia (Belgrade)
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia)
Sweden (Solna)
Switzerland (Basel)
Turkey (Istanbul)
Ukraine (Kyiv and Donetsk)
Wales (Cardiff)
Rome, Milan, Kiev, Istanbul, Valencia, Athens, Cardiff, Dublin and London are the only cities who've applied with
stadiums big enough to host the semis and final. Rome, Kiev and London have hosted previous finals.
It's also worth noting however that the currently planned Olympic stadium in Baku has a capacity only a couple of hundred
short of the 70k requirement and that Blatter and Platini were there for the ground breaking ceremony last year, neither
of whom have been known to unusually back extremely rich hosts for major tournaments.