By Luke Cullen
Ireland has combined with the four football associations of the UK to submit a joint bid for the 2028 European Championships.
Initially planning a similar bid for the 2030 World Cup, the 5 nations scrapped such plans following an ‘extensive’ feasibility study, according to the Irish Times.
The associations claim that hosting the European championships will not be as costly as being home to the world’s largest sporting event in 2030 but will yield similar returns on investment.
The UK -Ireland bid will have to include 10 stadiums, of which one must have 60,000 seats, two with 50,000, four with 40,000 and a further three with 30,000.
Also, in relation to automatic qualification- a luxury usually afforded to the host country- none of the five football chief executives were able to confirm of the would all be granted such a request.
However, IFA chief executive Patrick Nelson commented that ‘We all want to be there, but we’ll have to have that discussion with UEFA.
