The deadline to officially declare an interest in hosting EURO 2020 expired this week. The candidates are: Turkey Georgia (originally considered doing so with Azerbaijan) Scotland/Ireland/Wales Germany had considered a bid, yet ruled one out due judging her chances reduced by having already hosted the 2006 WC and 2011 WWC tournaments. Who do you think ought to host the second 24-team EURO? The Celtic bid looks logistically quite problematic owing to the stadium and wider infrastructure requirements. Turkey may be less problematic in that regard, yet Turkish football has been hit by scandal and is plagued by various issues. Neither bid offers the ideal package, by the looks of it. What's your take on EURO 2020?
Definitely the Scots and the Irish. Although mighty football nations, they've never ever hosted anything important (except European Cups finals in Glasgow and Dublin).
A weak list of candidates. Can they not just host it nowhere, have home and away legs and a single final at a neutral stadium? If those are the options, I'd rather see it hosted by somewhere like Spain. They haven't hosted a tournament since '82, they have a lot of decent stadiums, and it'd be a nice country to visit unlike the Ukraine. They could do with the tourism too.
I think they will give it to Turkey because they nearly got the Euro 2016, but Istanbul is also bidding for the Summer Olympics on the same year. If they get the Olympics, then, they will lose the European Championship. Besides, Turkish football has some scandals lately. They could be ended up liked Italy's bid for Euro 2016. The Celtic bid looked awesome, but I did not like the idea of three hosts.
Turkey looks like the favourite. Despite the scandals. For the Celtic bid is quite a logistical headache. Especially stadium-wise.
Some non-EURO news that could end up affecting who gets to stage EURO 2020. Today the International Olympic Committee announced the three final candidates to host the 2020 Summer Games: Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. The final decision will be announced in Buenos Aires on 7 September 2013. The decision on who will host EURO 2020 is scheduled for "early 2014" Reports I've read suggest that Istanbul is the early front runner to host the 2020 Olympics. If that were to happen, how much would that affect UEFA's decision? Could Istanbul/Turkey - or ANY city/country - handle both the EURO and the Olympic Games within a 2-3 month timeframe?
I trust it'd massively impact the decision. But hey, couldn't one expect Turkey herself to withdraw her bid if awarded the Olympics? Istanbul frontrunner. Sweet. I would have thought Tokyo would be topdog. But Istanbul's ever so much more interesting a city. One might also say that after Athens 2004, it's a second 21st century homecoming for the Olympics.
He, I would think Georgia's geopolitical troubles (secessionist republics, Russia) would present too much of a risk. Besides, even if Georgia were to able to build 10 new stadiums, wouldn't those all end up as white elephants? Without a co-host, Georgia's bid strikes me as implausible. And after the troubles with authoritarian Ukraine and the travails of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, I don't see anyone wanting to award Azerbaijan a major tournament. I mean, together with Belarus, it's part of Europe's dictatorial bloc. Georgia must be a lovely country though. Always wanted to visit. It'd definitely have flair. Sadly otherwise implausible, IMO.
The International Olympic Committee already said that the host city is not allowed to host another international event in that country on the same year. If Istanbul gets it, Turkey must pull out of Euro 2020 .
I'm pulling for Scotland/Ireland. I would love to see that, and I would love to try and make the trip out there for it.
i dont think scotland/ireland/wales should host it becasue they already got a great stadiums and facilitys. the best thing about big tournaments is the country who host it make new stadiums, and devlope the football in the country. country like Georgia really need a cahnge in its facilitys and if they get to host the euro it will really devlope their football. thats why i think georgia should host. (turkey also has great facilitys already)
Agree about probability of Turkey, but unless they allow reopening of bids if Istanbul gets Olympics, then of the other bidders Celtic nations only choice. With rugby stadiums, they largely have infrastructure. They could easily add another group of 4 (total 28 teams, 7 groups, one-time) to cover extra automatic entries, as this would only reduce the number of 3rd place teams going to knockouts to 2, no big deal. Reopening to allow infrastructure-ready Spain, Germany, Italy or England late bids would be forseeable if Istanbul gets Olympics.
Would like a single nation to hold it- fed up of these joint bids that put two sides that probably wouldn't qualify in the tournament!
It will be too late to reopen the bids. I have a feeling that the Celtic bid started because of Istanbul getting the Olympics. Istanbul is the forerunner for the Olympics according to a lot of news source. The Cetlic nations probably have inside information that the general public does not know about. Their bid was a late entry and Turkey was a big front runner on the Euro 2020. So they would not waste money on a bid unless they know that Istanbul will get the Olympics. They can still screw it up because of many, many factors and the same factors may apply to the Euro 2020 bid too..... but if they screw up the Olympics, they will screw up the Euro 2020 bid too. The Celtic nations are ina win-win situation. They should get the Euro 2020.
Well, but can Georgia afford to build ten EURO-compatible stadia, the necessary accomodation, transport infrastructure etc? And what about the geopolitical troubles in the region (those secessionist republics within Georgia's borders, wider regional tensions)? What about Saakashvili's more authoritarian style of governance since the revolution? The human-rights situation? I just don't see it happening. Too much of a risk. Even more than Poland/Ukraine is and was.
Few countries can host a 24-team EURO. Ten EURO-compatible stadia are required. Scotland and Ireland couldn't pull that off on their own, so they also asked Wales to join the bid. Besides, with 24 teams, reserving 2-3 berths for the home teams strikes me as not much of a problem. Qualifying is after all quite easy, even if only 21 berths are available for those who need to qualify.
Exactly - I would go for Ireland + Scotland + Wales, with cheap transportation all around, decent stadiums (Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Glasgow x2, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Swansea) and 24 teams (=21 to qualify). That could be a great experiment, too, but most of the problems seen now with POL/UKR do not exist there. Of course, I would love to see Croatia plus Serbia plus Bosnia throw a major tournament soon but for now let's be realistic.
Even if it was a Celtic Euro with three countries joint venturing, it still wouldn't have some of the geographical problems about range between statioums ... specially with the highly developed transportation inferstucture the Brittish Isles have ... other than prehaps enlarging a few of the statiums (not unlikely that that would have happened some places anyhows) and a few hotels upgrades outside the major cities (Edinbough, Glasgow, Dublin and Cardiff) It should be a fairly easy deal at least in terms of getting everything physical up and ready to go
Good point about countries where football infrastructure/facilities can be developed before the tournament. Hard to say, although I think Turkey has a big chance here.
As UEFA chairman Platini said in recent interview ; as a ''desicion'' Turkey must choice one tournament. EURO or Olympic. I think they will choice Olympic. And for the record, I bet Tokyo will take Olympic.
Currently Istanbul, Tokyo, and Madrid on the IOC's list for 2020 Summer Olympics. Baku and Doha are also in the running, but their candidacies haven't been accepted yet. If Istanbul gets picked (and I have no idea what their chances), then they're out. The announcement will be September 2013 for the Olympics, "late 2013 or early 2014" for the Euro.