Wales, Scotland and N Ireland have bid for Euro 2020!!!

cotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have formally declared an interest in hosting Euro 2020.

Ahead of a midnight deadline, they have told Uefa that they would be interested in bidding to host the European Championships on a three-way basis.

Until now, Turkey were the only nation expected to bid.

But it appears that European football's governing body itself encouraged the joint bid from the Celtic nations, while Georgia have also now declared.

Turkey's bid is in some disarray already because its FA has been engulfed by allegations of corruption and match-fixing in domestic football, while it also conflicts with Istanbul's bid to land the Olympics in the same year.
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“It's obviously something that has been discussed”

Stewart Regan SFA chief executive

A formal declaration of interest does not commit the Celtic countries to proceeding with a bid as a decision is not due to be taken by Uefa for 18 months.

Football Association of Wales chief executive Jonathan Ford stressed: "It is not a bid, it's a declaration of interest and that will allow us to obtain the information from Uefa so that we can fully assess and determine, independently and together, whether we should submit a bid."

The Celtic nations have a major hurdle to overcome to win the tournament, which has been expanded from 16 teams to 24 from 2016 onwards, should they decide to bid.

The competition's demands would mean the three nations might struggle to provide up to 10 stadia with sufficient capacity.

Scotland and Wales considered a joint bid for the 2016 championship - which will be played in France - before deciding not to go ahead, while a joint bid for Euro 2008 by the Scots and the Irish failed.

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan is reported as having told the website www.insidethegames.biz: "I'm not able to comment publicly at this stage because it has not gone to our board, but there will be an exchange of correspondence before the deadline.

"It's obviously something that has been discussed."

Asked if Scotland and Wales would be able to meet Uefa's criteria for stadia, Regan replied: "There are other ways of skinning a cat and alternative ways of being considered for a major tournament."

Uefa president Michel Platini has indicated his support for Turkey's bid - but only if Istanbul fails to land the 2020 Olympics.

Georgia have confirmed interest in hosting the tournament despite their hopes of Azerbaijan joining them in a joint bid being dashed.

Sports minister Lado Vardzelashvili told a news conference that they would proceed with a solo bid after Azerbaijan decided to concentrate on a bid by Baku for the 2020 Olympics.

"Azerbaijan has made a bid to host the Olympics, so Georgia will continue bidding for Euro 2020 independently," Vardzelashvili was quoted as saying by media in Georgia.

The former Soviet republic may struggle to fulfil the Uefa criteria for stadiums, but Vardzelashvili insisted that construction of "ultra-modern stadium" will start this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18069127

Sounds like it could be a good bid IF all the FA's can cooperate and pull in the same direction - baring the need to take a ferry/flight to/from Ireland, the distances aren't huge in comparison to other European countries (England/Holland excepted).

I'd also imagine in Wales you could expand the Scarlets Parc Y Sgarlets to 20,000 and the Cardiff City Stadium to 30,000+ with temporary seating quite easily.

Not sure what the minimum requirements are but with quite a few 50,000+ stadiums we shouldn't be too far away.

I think it's a great idea, if the stadium requirements can be fulfilled.

Don't you think that picture on the BBC article looks like the 2 Welsh players are attempting to prevent the Scottish player from stepping in a ginormous dog turd?

I think the Stadium requirements will be the stumbling block, they will need 10 stadiums

MS, Cardiff City Stadium, Murrayfield, Hampden Park, Ibrox, Celtic Park, The new Aberdeen stadium (if built), Easter Road, Windsor Park, The Racecourse would probably be improved, and Parc Y Sgarlets capacity increased & I'm assuming that there's another suitable stadium in N Ireland - maybe where Gealic Football is played.

Stadiums wouldn't be a problem. In Scotland we have Celtic Park, Ibrox (although it could be a supermarket by 2012), Hampden, Murrayfield and Tynecastle is a fabulous stadium for atmosphere even if there fans are vile.

Cardiff and Swansea have cracking stadiums and then there is the Millenium stadium. I don't know what they have in NI apart from their national stadium which is a decent ground.

Isn't it just Scotland, Wales and Republic of Ireland?

I can't really see Uefa going for three host nations over Turkey or Georgia.

I have said before that Scotland would have been better off leading a joint bid with England.

Scotland would host the opening game, a semi final and the final. England would play their home games at Wembley then the other English ground would all be northern ie Anfield, Old Trafford, Stadium of Light and St James' Park.

England don't need Scotland to hold a tournament so its never going to happen.

Remember as of 2016 the Euros becomes a 24 team tournament so having 3 automatic qualifiers still leaves 21 places.

Wales:
-MS
-CCS (Uprgraded to 35,000)
-Liberty (Uprgraded to 30,000)
-Race course (Uprgraded to 25,000)

Scotland:

-Hampden
-Ibrox
-Celtic Park
-Murrayfield
-Easter RD (Upgraded slightly)

NI:

-Windsor Park (Uprgraded facilities, possible small increase in capacity)

It will need allot of work but will boost the economies of each country and would work with obviously money spent on stadia. I know the CCS is being talked about being upgraded as is the Liberty, but there are stadia available which are more than capable of hosting an international tournament.

Didn't realise it was Republic of Ireland - in that case there's plenty of stadiums - including Croke Park, the Aviva, Gaelic Grounds & Semple Stadium - all hold 50,000+ and of course you've got Thormond Park as well. I know these are rugby/GAA grounds but it shouldn't be too hard to temporarily adapt them for a month or 2.

As has been said England would never need to share a bid for a championship/World Cup (though they might use the MS or HP as part of their own bid)

Honestly mate Easter Road would be the be the wrong place to take it in Edinburgh. Tynecastle is a cracking stadium. The atmosphere in that ground at times is fantastic only bettered up here by Celtic park but that's 3 times the size.

Turkey/Georgia is a bigger market than Ireland/Scotland/Wales anyway!

You saw what happened when Russia applied for the World Cup!

Turkey are in the middle of a match fixing scandal. Some clubs and people have been found not guilty but its still ongoing. They also have real problems with crowd trouble. I could tell you nothing about Georgia other than their national stadium is a hole. Scotland played them a few years ago.

There is no way UEFA will alow 3 countries who have little chance of qualifying on merit alone the chance to host, and therefore deny 3 other, far stronger nations the opportunity to compete.
They might not mind 2 countries hosting, but even then they have to be at least second string nations and without wishing to sound rude, Scotland and Wales haven't even been at that level for a long time, compare them to Ukraine + Poland, Holland + Belgium, or even Switzerland + Austria, all of whom have qualified for major tounaments more recently than Wales and at least as recently as Scotland.

The tournament size is increasing to 24 teams so it wouldn't take any places away from better teams.

I'm a Scot and I don't want the Euros.

Why?

It would be great for the country to have a tournament.

The Irish/UK bid would allow tourists to witness sectarianism first hand!

Better to avoid!

Sectarianism isn't that bad in Scotland it's a minority and not just in Glasgow or at the Old Firm but it is left for domestic football. The national team are well known for having a good support who know how to behave themselves.

We only have 2 stadiums worthy of being used as Euro venues and we have little money to spend on it. Plus I question certain Scots tempraments.

And above all, it will only benefit Glasgow (and possibly Edinburgh).

Celtic Park, Ibrox, Hampden, Murrayfield, Tynecastle and Easter Road.

Hopefully a new Pittodrie and if we bid on our own you could throw a couple of quid at Tannadice. Then you have the commonwealth arena. It would be great for the country.

Remember when the country was buzzing when Walter Smith almost got us to a tournament? Imagine what it would be like if we were hosting one.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:The tournament size is increasing to 24 teams so it wouldn't take any places away from better teams.

It doesn't matter if there will be 24 teams, Scotland and Wales still wouldn't make the grade, so they'd clearly be preventing better and more deserving teams from taking part.

To be fair FIFA have given the World Cup to Qatar who have NEVER qualified.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:Celtic Park, Ibrox, Hampden, Murrayfield, Tynecastle and Easter Road.

Hopefully a new Pittodrie and if we bid on our own you could throw a couple of quid at Tannadice. Then you have the commonwealth arena. It would be great for the country.

Remember when the country was buzzing when Walter Smith almost got us to a tournament? Imagine what it would be like if we were hosting one.

I'd be hesitant about saying Ibrox, we'll see whose hands it ends up in. Again, it only benefits the big 2 cities (but I understand why, they're hardly going to Dingwall). Were the rumours true about Inverness and Ross County clubbing together for a new stadium? Or was that purely to share the Cali Stadium?

Never been to Pittodrie but it definitely needs investment. Seen it on TV. As for Tannadice, it's on my doorstep and it looks like increasing the capacity won't work. There's a road on 2 sides of it and privately owned allotments on a 3rd side. Don't know what's on the 4th side but I think that's another road.

ReallyReal wrote:

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:The tournament size is increasing to 24 teams so it wouldn't take any places away from better teams.

It doesn't matter if there will be 24 teams, Scotland and Wales still wouldn't make the grade, so they'd clearly be preventing better and more deserving teams from taking part.

On the current FIFA rankings, Wales are 23rd in Europe and Scotland 27th. Please consider the following:

1) Both of this year's joint hosts, Poland and Ukraine are ranked lower than Scotland. With there being only 16 teams in Euro 2012, a lot of teams that are stronger on paper than the hosts have missed out. The possibility of this happening didn't prevent them being awarded the tournament.

2) Wales in particular have some good young players and there must be a decent charge that they will improve over the next few years.

3) The current 22nd ranked team in Europe (and therefore the team on paper who might just miss out) are Hungary. With all due respect I'm not sure if many neutrals would consider their absence from a theoretical 24 team Euros held this summer a particularly grave injustice.

4) Wales are already in Europe's top 24 in theory.

P.S. I am English.

Would love to have the euros so close to home but would this not prove more threatening to the three nations than the olympic team?

Not really it isn't uncommon for countries to co-host tournaments. However it is uncommon for 4 nations to play as 1 for a 1 off tournament.

I don't see why as they would be entered as three separate teams? There have been joint bids in the past, and I'm sure they'll happen again.

Not sure if UEFA would go with giving up three places though. That's not been done before. Knowing how dodgey the governing bodies can be I wouldn't be suprised if Georgia ended up getting it

Looking at all the empty seats in Croatia I think Ross Counties ground may be more suited.