32 Countries Want Euro 2020 Action, Says Uefa

23 Sep 2013 | tshego

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UEFA has confirmed that 32 nations around Europe have expressed an interest in hosting matches from the European Championships in 2020, while the Football Association has proposed Wembley Stadium as a potential venue for the semi-finals and final.

Euro 2020 will be held over 13 nations, with 39 cities announcing their interest in hosting games.

FA chairman Greg Dyke said the expectation was that Wembley would only host group stage matches at Euro 2020 last week, but on Friday general secretary Alex Horne announced that England had bid to host the semi-finals and final.

England failed in a bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which ultimately went to Russia, while neighbours Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland have also submitted bids to host matches, along with countries ranging from Armenia to Ukraine.

According to media reports, Istanbul are favourites to win the finals package after losing out in their bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Each nation may propose two bids, one for a package of three group matches and a quarterfinal game and one for the special package of the two semi-finals and a final. Bid dossiers must then be submitted to UEFA by April next year, before the host cities are revealed in September 2014.

The bidding nations and proposed cities are as follows: 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 (Kiev and Donetsk) and Wales (Cardiff).