UEFA Euro 2028 facts for kids

The 2028 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2028 or simply Euro 2028, will be the 18th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship. The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland will host the tournament, which is scheduled to take place between June and July 2028.

This will be the third time that the tournament will be hosted in England, who previously hosted the 1996 tournament and held matches of the 2020 tournament in London. It will also be the second time that the tournament has been hosted in Scotland, who also held matches of the 2020 tournament in Glasgow, as well as the first time it will be hosted in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales.

Bid process

Countries must submit a bid with 10 stadiums, one of which must have 60,000 seats, one of which (preferably two) must have 50,000 seats, four of which must have 40,000 seats and three of which must have 30,000 seats.

Bidding timeline

On 16 December 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee announced the bidding process would be held in parallel with that of UEFA Euro 2032. Interested bidders can bid for either one of the tournaments. The bidding timeline is as follows:

• 27 September 2021: Applications formally invited
• 23 March 2022: Closing date for registering intention to bid
• 30 March 2022: Bid requirements made available to bidders
• 5 April 2022: Announcement of bidders
• 28 April 2022: Opening workshop for bidders
• 16 November 2022: Submission of preliminary bid dossier
• 12 April 2023: Submission of final bid dossier
• 10 October 2023: Bid presentation and announcement of host

Confirmed plans to bid

Three declarations of interest to host the tournament (one later deemed ineligible) were received by UEFA before the deadline of 23 March 2022:

•  United Kingdom and  Republic of Ireland – On 7 February 2022, the football associations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland announced a joint bid as the United Kingdom and Ireland. England previously hosted the tournament in 1996. England and Scotland were two of eleven host countries of the multi-national Euro 2020, with twelve matches being played in London (England) and Glasgow (Scotland). Ireland was due to host some games of the 2020 tournament but due to its lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic those matches were instead played in St Petersburg and London where lockdown restrictions were lifted early in order to host the games.

Previously expressed interest in bidding

These countries previously expressed interest in bidding, but did not submit a bid before the official deadline:

•  Denmark,  Faroe Islands,  Finland,  Iceland,  Norway and  Sweden – On 4 March 2016, the Danish Football Association announced preparation of a joint bid together with the FAs of Sweden, Norway and Finland for Euro 2028 plus events in the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
•  Portugal and  Spain – On 12 September 2018, the Royal Spanish Football Federation announced intentions of a joint bid together with the Portuguese Football Federation for Euro 2028 or the 2030 World Cup.
•  Romania,  Greece,  Bulgaria and  Serbia

At the meeting in February 2019 of the Ministers of Youth and Sports of Romania (Constantin Bogdan Matei), Bulgaria (Krasen Kralev), Serbia (Vanja Udovičić) and Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of Greece (Giorgos Vasileiadis), it was officially confirmed that these four countries would submit joint candidacy for the organisation of the Euro 2028 and 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Abandoned bids

•  Italy – In February 2019, Italian Football Federation President Gabriele Gravina told Sky Sport Italia that the federation was considering a bid. The bid was proposed again by Gravina some few days after Italy's win at Euro 2020. In February 2022, the Italian federation announced it would bid for Euro 2032, instead of 2028, as it would allow them more time to redevelop facilities.
•  Turkey – On 23 March 2022, the Turkish Football Federation confirmed it had submitted an application to host Euro 2028. On 28 July 2023, the Turkish Football Federation and the Italian Football Federation submitted a request to UEFA to merge their bids for UEFA Euro 2032; if accepted Turkey's bid to host Euro 2028 will likely be withdrawn. On 4 October 2023, it was announced that Turkey had withdrawn their bid to focus on their joint bid for Euro 2032.

Ineligible bids

•  Russia – Russia announced its bid on 23 March 2022, despite the bans by UEFA on the participation of Russian clubs and the Russian national team in international competitions due to their country's invasion of Ukraine. On 2 May, UEFA declared the 2028 and 2032 bids as ineligible.

Qualification

Per UEFA's bid regulations, the automatic qualification of the hosts can only be guaranteed for up to two host associations. Therefore, it is unclear which host teams may qualify automatically. One plan being considered is that all five host teams may enter qualifying, with two automatic spots held in reserve for a host which fails to qualify. Should three or more host teams fail to qualify, the spots would be awarded to the best-performing hosts. A qualifying tournament will take place to determine the majority of the competing teams.

A revised qualification format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, on 25 January 2023. The qualification format was modified from the previous cycle. The qualifying group stage will feature twelve groups of four or five teams. The winner of each group will qualify for the European Championship, while the second-placed teams will either qualify directly or participate in play-off matches. All of the five host countries will take part in the qualification process.

Venues

On 12 April 2023, the ten host stadiums were revealed, with the list being confirmed by UEFA on 10 October 2023. Notable omissions include Anfield which was ineligible to host games due to its pitch dimensions falling short of UEFA's requirements, while Old Trafford was ruled out after Manchester United were unable to guarantee whether the stadium would be ready in time.

London		Cardiff	Manchester
Wembley Stadium	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	National Stadium of Wales	City of Manchester Stadium
Capacity: 90,652	Capacity: 62,322	Capacity: 73,952	Capacity: 61,000
Liverpool			Newcastle
Everton Stadium			St James' Park
Capacity: 52,679			Capacity: 52,305
Birmingham	Glasgow	Dublin	Belfast
Villa Park	Hampden Park	Dublin Arena	Casement Park
Capacity: 52,190	Capacity: 52,032	Capacity: 51,711	Capacity: 34,500

Broadcasting rights

UEFA

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