The joint UK/Ireland bid is now without rival to host Euro 2028, with Turkey having officially withdrawn its application to focus on hosting the next edition with Italy, UEFA said on Wednesday .
The British Isles, which had given up aiming to organize the 2030 World Cup in favor of organizing the European tournament, were already huge favorites for Euro 2028 before the double designation next Tuesday of the hosts of 2028 and 2032, which therefore seems acquired.
Turkey, an unsuccessful candidate to host each Euro since 2008, was initially in the running for both editions but in July merged its file with that of Italy for Euro-2032, without saying at the time what what would happen to its ambitions for 2028.
But UEFA confirmed on Wednesday that it had “withdrew”, at the request of the Turkish federation, “its candidacy to organize Euro-2028”, leaving each of the files alone in the running for the two editions that its executive committee will award on Tuesday.
England previously hosted the Euros in 1996, while Italy hosted the 1968 and 1980 editions. Turkey has never hosted the event, but Istanbul hosted the League final on June 10 champions.
Russia created a surprise by declaring its interest in March 2022, just a few days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, sanctioned by UEFA with the exclusion of Russian teams from its competitions. The Russian application files were finally deemed inadmissible by UEFA in May 2022.
Before these two editions, Euro-2024 will take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14.
