Euro 2028 to Be Hosted by UK, Ireland; Euro 2032 to Be Held in Italy, Turkey

UEFA announced Tuesday that a pair of joint bids won the right to host the 2028 and 2032 European Championships, respectively.

According to Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber of Reuters, the United Kingdom and Ireland will play host to Euro 2028, while Euro 2032 will be held in Italy and Turkey.

While the choices became official Tuesday, they were essentially locked in last week when Turkey withdrew itself from consideration for Euro 2028 and instead joined forces with Italy to bid for Euro 2032.

Per Tétrault-Farber, Euro 2028 is poised to be the largest sporting event ever co-hosted by the UK and Ireland.

While England hosted Euro 1996, the 2028 edition of the European Championships will mark the first time Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been given the opportunity to be host nations.

Debbie Hewitt, who is the chair of the English Football Association (FA), said 10 different stadiums will host Euro 2028 matches. Although it is unclear how the matches will be divided, it seems likely that the final and possibly semifinals will be held at Wembley Stadium in London.

While host nations are typically guaranteed a spot in the European Championship field, that won't be the case for Euro 2028.

UEFA is setting aside two "safety net" berths for host nations that do not qualify on their own, meaning it is possible that three of the five Euro 2028 host nations could be left out of the tournament.

If more than two of the host nations do not qualify, only the two with the best record in qualifying will be given an automatic berth.

England has qualified for eight of the past nine European Championships and is typically considered a lock, but the other four host countries are less certain.

Wales qualified for each of the past two Euros, Scotland qualified in 2020, marking its first Euro appearance since 1996, Ireland qualified in 2012 and 2016 before missing in 2020, and Northern Ireland's only time qualifying came in 2016.

As for Euro 2032, Turkey will be a host nation for the first time, while Italy is hosting for the third time in the history of the tournament, and the first time since 1980.

Joint bids have become relatively commonplace in recent years with the first instance occurring in 2000 when Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosted the European Championship.

Austria and Switzerland co-hosted in 2008, while Ukraine and Poland did so in 2012.

Euro 2020 was postponed until 2021 and held in 11 different cities across Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the joint bids for 2028 and 2032 are realized, Euro 2024 will be held solely in Germany, marking the nation's first time hosting the European Championships since West Germany did so in 1988.