THE HOME Nations’ bid to host Euro 2028 has received a massive boost after UEFA took action on Russia for the upcoming season.
The European governing body announced Russian clubs will be banned from participating in their competitions in 2022-23.
Not only is that good news for Celtic and Rangers in terms of Champions League qualification, it puts the five Home Nations in prime position to host the continent’s elite international tournament because Russia’s bid to host Euro 2028 has also been thrown out.
Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland now have only one challenger for the showpiece event’s hosting rights – Turkey.
A statement from UEFA read: “The UEFA Executive Committee declared the bid submitted by the Football Union of Russia (FUR) to host the UEFA EURO 2028 or the UEFA EURO 2032 as not eligible, in accordance with Article 16.02 of the Bid Regulations UEFA Finals and Final Phases which states that ‘each bidder shall ensure that it does not act in a manner that could bring UEFA, the UEFA final or UEFA final phase, any other bidder (or any employee, officer or representative of any of the foregoing), the bidding procedure or European football into disrepute.’
“Moreover, ‘the automatic qualification of the host team(s) shall be guaranteed (…) for a single host (…)’.
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“Therefore, given the uncertainty as to when the suspension will be lifted, the acceptance of a bid from the FUR would also go against the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee of 28 February 2022, suspending all Russian representative teams and clubs from participating in UEFA competition matches until further notice, if an association, whose teams are currently suspended from participating in any UEFA competition would be allowed to bid for a tournament to be hosted on its territory.
“The UEFA Executive Committee will remain on standby to convene further meetings to reassess the legal and factual situation as it evolves and adopt further decisions as necessary.”
On March 5 it was reported that Turkey would be dropping out as they only wanted to proceed with their bid if they would be unopposed.
However a few weeks later on March 23, the Turkish FA submitted their application.
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But the British and Irish bid is the favourite to be chosen by Uefa.
If the plans go ahead it’s possible Hampden AND Murrayfield would be used as venues during the competition.
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