UEFA Euro 2016

The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2016 for short, will be the 15th quadrennial top-level European football event. It will be held in the summer of the year 2016. The host nation(s) are yet to be selected. Should the selection process and timeline used for Euro 2012 be applied again, the host(s) would be chosen in the spring of 2011.

Euro 2016 is currently planned to feature 16 teams, though an extension to 24 is possible. UEFA, Europe's football confederation, will decide on the issue in the spring of 2007.

Hosting Requirements

A minimum of eight stadia is necessary to host a Euro in the present 16-team format. Should the tournament be expanded to 24, the experience of past 24-team World Cups (1982 to 1994) shows that 9 to 12 stadia are necessary to host such a competition. This would favor bids by single large countries or joint bids by two medium-size countries.

Possible Bids

Several countries are reported to be considering bids:

Scotland

Scottish stadia that could be used include the national football stadium, Hampden as well as club grounds Celtic Park and Ibrox, and Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium. However, a bid featuring three stadia in the same host city would possibly be seen as a drawback to any bid. Three venues would also likely put too much strain on Glasgow's transportation and lodging infrastructure. So, as a result, various other venues around the country would require upgrading/rebuilt. Possible venues include upgraded/new stadiums in Aberdeen and Dundee, and possibly a second stadium in Edinburgh - either an upgraded Tynecastle or Easter Road. Other Scottish cities with the necessary hosting infrastructure include Inverness, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline and Paisley, though the venues situated here would require extensive upgrades/refurbishments.

If the tournament expands to 24 teams, then at least 10 stadiums would be required for any bid. Therefore, currently, Scotland would not be capable of hosting the tournament on its own. However, with 6/7 new stadiums or upgrades in all, a solo bid could be made possible.

Ireland or Wales may be invited to join Scotland in a bid for the Championships. Ireland unsuccessfully bid with Scotland for Euro 2008 which went to Austria & Switzerland. An Irish bid would include the newly-upgraded Lansdowne Road which will hold 50,000 and the GAA headquarters Croke Park which has a 82,500 capacity. New stadiums would have to be built or upgraded, probably in Cork Limerick or Galway. Any Welsh involvement would most likely include the Millenium Stadium and Ninian Park in Cardiff, the new Liberty Stadium in Swansea and a possibly upgraded Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.

However, recent comments by Scotland's new First Minister Alex Salmond suggest that the Scots going it alone in their bid would be preferential. .

Sweden & Norway

According to an article [1] in the Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, Sweden and Norway are considering co-hosting the championship, with Gothenburg's Ullevi Stadium as the venue for the final. Gothenburg is the natural choice for the final as the city is close to Norway. However, the 43,000-capacity Ullevi currently holds a UEFA 4-star rating only and would need expanding to over 50,000 (and improved amenities) to attain the 5-star rating necessary to host the final. The new 50,000-seat football-only national stadium in Solna, on the other hand, will be designed to 5-star standards from the start and will be a central part of the bid, with its 50 000 places.

Other stadia being considered in Sweden are a new stadium in Malmö and Olympia Stadium in Helsingborg. Ullevål in Oslo, Lerkendal Stadium in Trondheim, Brann Stadion in Bergen, and Viking Stadion in Stavanger are the planned venues in Norway. One to four further stadia upgrades/constructions would be needed if the tournament were to be expanded to 24 teams.

France

On 18 April 2007, the President of the French Football Federation, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, declared France's intention to bid, but currently there are no firm plans in place. The President of the LFP, Frédéric Thiriez, commented that they would be a favourable candidate, owing to the large number of stadia already in place.

Bulgaria & Romania

According to Internet feeds and various articles in Bulgarian and Romanian newspapers, a Romanian senator has proposed that the two countries bid jointly to host Euro 2016. This preliminary information features no supporting details and needs confirming as of February 2007. Two stadia in Sofia, Bulgaria, and one stadium each in Bucharest and Craiova in Romania are near-certain parts of any bid. However, as Poland and the Ukraine will host the Euro 2012, a successful eastern European bid for two consecutive tournaments seems unlikely.

The chances of a joint bid succeeding may be hampered by the fact that 3 out of the previous 4 Championships leading up to 2016 (2000, 2008 and 2012) will have been hosted jointly, however, this is by no means a definite drawback.

Other Possible Bidders

Other countries that have expressed an interest in hosting the Championships include Greece, Israel, Russia and Turkey, though none have put forward any formal plans.

External links

• UEFA official website