Russia and Turkey have joined the UK and Ireland in declaring an interest to host Euro 2028.
It had seemed a joint-bid from the UK and Ireland would be the sole application for the tournament but on Wednesday Russia – despite the current suspension of their clubs and national teams by FIFA and UEFA over the country’s invasion of Ukraine – and Turkey surprisingly put their name forwards to host the competition.
Russia and Turkey have also declared an interest in hosting Euro 2032, with Italy rivalling them for that edition of the European Championships.
The Euro 2028 and Euro 2032 competitions will be awarded to host countries in September 2023.
Russia successfully hosted the 2018 World Cup but has been exiled from the international sports community since its invasion of Ukraine a month ago, with UEFA having already stripped St Petersburg of hosting rights for this season’s men’s Champions League final.
They have been able to put their name forward for these competitions because the Russian Football Union was not suspended when FIFA and UEFA banned the club and national teams.
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“If that was to happen, this bid would be thrown out,” Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol said. “What I’ve been told is the UEFA executive committee is ready to meet very, very quickly to make that decision to suspend the Russian Football Union.
“If that was to happen, you have to look at article 11 of UEFA’s bid regulations and that says, ‘only UEFA member associations that are not suspended, excluded or dissolved may bid to host UEFA finals’.”
