Today, the Republic of Ireland and the nations in the UK have submitted their final bid to host UEFA EURO 2028.
A message from the footballing associations of Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland read: "We are delighted that our Government Partners are fully committed to hosting UEFA EURO 2028. They have signed the relevant tournament guarantees and will ensure the event is fully supported.
"This will create a welcoming, exciting, and safe football experience that players and fans will enjoy in every city and every game.
Ireland & UK submits final bid to host historic UEFA EURO 2028
Five-association partnership with 10 stadia proposed as national team captains express support for bid
➡️ https://t.co/Rza6M04mzG pic.twitter.com/YUyTplESrc— FAIreland (@FAIreland) April 12, 2023
"We will work with our Governments to ensure there is a strong legacy investment from hosting the tournament.
"We share and support UEFA’s plan that hosting UEFA EURO 2028 is a significant opportunity to transform football development and generate meaningful economic, environmental, and social benefits."
Initially, fourteen stadia were selected as part of the joint bid, but that list has been cut to ten to meet UEFA's submission deadline.
The likes of London's Wembley Stadium, Dublin's Aviva Stadium, Belfast's Casement Park, and Cardiff's Principality Stadium have all been included as submitted stadia for the event.
Ireland's other big stadium, Croke Park, did not make the list despite the GAA allowing the use of the ground for the tournament.
FAI CEO Jonathan Hill said Aviva Stadium was selected ahead of Croke Park due to a limit of one stadium per city rule. This did apply to London.
"In all major bid processes, you start with a shortlist of stadia, and this is whittled down to a final agreed list in order to give the bid the best chance of success and reflects the streamlined nature of the tournament," he said.
"This bid started with 14 stadia, and we now have our agreed final 10 which have been submitted. The bid, with the exemption of London, is based on a 'one city, one stadium' principle and together we believe the list offers an array of superb stadia from across the UK and Ireland," said Hill, who added the tournament would be worth approximately €240m to the Irish economy.
"This will only support our plans to grow the game and will act as a catalyst as we seek to finance infrastructure across all levels of Irish football, from grassroots to League of Ireland.
"Our hope is to welcome football fans from Europe and across the world to Dublin for a number of great games in 2028, and that is a really exciting prospect for all of us."
The bid has also been welcomed by the likes of Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman and his counterparts from the other nations, Harry Kane (Eng), Steven Davis (NI), Andy Robertson (Sco), and Aaron Ramsey (Wal).
Turkey is also looking to host the tournament in a separate bid.
A decision to host the football event is expected in either September or October.
The proposed host cities and 10 stadia across the five partner Associations are (gross capacity order):
- London - Wembley Stadium (90,652)
- Cardiff - National Stadium of Wales (73,952)
- London - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (62,322)
- Manchester - City of Manchester Stadium (61,000)
- Liverpool - Everton Stadium (52,679)
- Newcastle - St James' Park (52,305)
- Birmingham - Villa Park (52,190)
- Glasgow - Hampden Park (52,032)
- Dublin - Dublin Arena (51,711)
- Belfast - Casement Park (34,500)
Dublin , Ireland - 10 July 2021; The Aviva Stadium will be used in Euro 2028 (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)