Who is hosting Euro 2028 and will they gain automatic qualification?
FOOTBALL fans rightly had their attention on this summer’s European Championships – especially with England making it to the final.
After there were multiple host nations to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Euros for the 2020 tournament, Germany is the sole host for this year’s event.
The tournament will run between June 14 and July 14.
But what about the next tournament?
Who is hosting Euro 2028?
Fans in the home nations and Ireland can rejoice for Euro 2028 as they will not need to travel to mainland Europe for the tournament.
That is because England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will all be joint hosts of the tournament.
Turkey were the main rival for the hosting rights in four years time, but withdrew from the race, leaving the British Isles as the only option to host.
Ten host venues have already been selected across the five nations.
England have a selection of six stadiums, with two in London, one in Birmingham, one in Manchester, one in Liverpool and one in Newcastle.
Meanwhile, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and Dublin will also host games to ensure all five nations have games.
The host cities and their stadiums can be seen below:
- England, London – Wembley Stadium
- England, London – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- England, Birmingham – Villa Park
- England, Manchester – Etihad Stadium
- England, Liverpool – Everton Stadium (under construction)
- England, Newcastle – St James’ Park
- Scotland, Glasgow – Hampden Park
- Wales, Cardiff – Principality Stadium
- Ireland, Dublin – Aviva Stadium
- Northern Ireland, Belfast – Casement Park (under construction)
It is understood that Cardiff will host the opening match, while the final will be held at Wembley.
Will all host nations gain automatic qualification to Euro 2028?
Uefa rules state that no more than two host nations can be granted an automatic qualification for tournament finals.
This means it will be impossible for all five host nations to agree on which of them should take the guaranteed spots, meaning that all five nations will enter the competition in the qualifying rounds.
So with that being said, it means that it’s a possibility that any of the five countries could fail to qualify for Euro 2028.
However, it’s still possible that the two automatic qualification places are held in reserve and could be used by any of the five nations that fail to secure a place through qualification.
But it has been reported that many within Uefa are “uncomfortable” with the idea of countries who have failed in qualifying to be handed a spot in the finals regardless.
Should more than two teams fail to secure spots at Euro 2028 through qualifying, that would present a messy process to determine which teams are left out.