Uefa is not expected to offer five automatic qualification places for Euro 2028 if a joint Britain and Ireland bid to host the tournament is successful.
The five nations — England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland — confirmed their intention to bid for the European Championship to be held in six years’ time after cancelling plans to bid for the 2030 World Cup.
Traditionally, the host or hosts of a major international tournament — be that the European Championship or World Cup — are handed automatic qualification spots by the organiser. But i has learned that it is unlikely Uefa would extend that offer to accommodate all five nations.
Two automatic qualification passes were handed to Belgium and Holland when they became the competition’s first joint-hosts at Euro 2000, while Switzerland and Austria and Ukraine and Poland were also given automatic spots when they collaborated to host Euro 2008 and 2012 respectively.
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But, while the Euro 2028 tournament regulations are yet to be finalised, Uefa is not keen on allowing more than two host countries to qualify automatically for a competition. When the first pan-European competition was organised for Euro 2020, to celebrate the competition’s 60th anniversary, none of the 11 host countries were issued automatic places.
It is expected that Euro 2028 will be a 32-team tournament, increasing from 24, but even if that is ratified it is unlikely to change Uefa’s stance should the Britain and Ireland bid win the rights. Executives of the five nations intend to discuss the issue with Uefa if the bid progresses.
Prospective Euro 2028 hosts have until 23 March to express interest formally and detailed bid dossiers must then be submitted by the deadline of 12 April, 2023. In September next year, a final appointment will be made, although if the Britain and Ireland bid is the only submission, the process will be far quicker.
While there are many creases still to iron out, chief executives of each of the nations sounded confident of their chances when discussing their plans on Monday last week, although it is not yet known if Russia will follow through with early suggestions that the country could launch a rival bid. Russia previously beat England to the right to host the 2018 World Cup and would pose a considerable threat to Britain and Ireland’s chances.
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Asked last week what the Britain and Ireland bid team intend to do if five spots are not granted, Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson said: “We all want to be there, obviously. The Euros is such a fantastic tournament, we’ve all experienced it before and are looking forward to putting a great bid together for 2028. Those are discussions we’ll have with Uefa. We’d all love to qualify automatically.
“If it’s a 24 team tournament, that’s 51 games. If it’s a 32 team tournament, that’s 63 games. We’re pretty confident as a five-nation group we’ll be able to handle either of those scenarios. Performances on the field are what matters in terms of qualification and we’ll have those discussions in some detail with Uefa later in terms of whether there are any host places.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/L4YXxk5
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