ENGLAND made it to their second consecutive Euros final in 2024 – but failed to bring home the trophy.
After there were multiple host nations to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Euros for the 2020 tournament, Germany was the sole host in 2024.
Now all eyes are on the 2028 event after Spain triumphed 2-1 over England in Berlin.
Here’s what we know about the next tournament.
Who is hosting Euro 2028?
Fans in the home nations and Ireland can rejoice for Euro 2028 as they will not need to travel to mainland Europe for the tournament.
That is because England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be joint hosts of the tournament.
Turkey was the main rival for the hosting rights, but withdrew from the race, leaving the British Isles as the only option to host.
Ten host venues have already been selected across the five nations.
England has a selection of six stadiums, with two in London, one in Birmingham, one in Manchester, one in Liverpool and another in Newcastle.
Meanwhile, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and Dublin will also host, to ensure all five nations have games.
However in June 2024 it was reported that Northern Ireland may drop out due to the cost of redeveloping Casement Park.
The host cities and their stadiums can be seen below:
- England, London – Wembley Stadium
- England, London – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- England, Birmingham – Villa Park
- England, Manchester – Etihad Stadium
- England, Liverpool – Everton Stadium (under construction)
- England, Newcastle – St James’ Park
- Scotland, Glasgow – Hampden Park
- Wales, Cardiff – Principality Stadium
- Ireland, Dublin – Aviva Stadium
- Northern Ireland, Belfast – Casement Park (under construction)
It is understood that Cardiff will host the opening match, while the final will be held at Wembley.
Will all host nations gain automatic qualification to Euro 2028?
Uefa rules state that no more than two host nations can be granted an automatic qualification for tournament finals.
This means it will be impossible for all five host nations to agree on which of them should take the guaranteed spots, meaning that all five nations will enter the competition in the qualifying rounds.
That means that it’s a possibility that any of the five countries could fail to qualify for Euro 2028.
However, it’s still possible that the two automatic qualification places are held in reserve and could be used by any of the five nations that fail to secure a place through their groups.
But it has been reported that many within Uefa are “uncomfortable” with the idea of countries who have failed in qualifying to be handed a spot in the finals regardless.
Should more than two teams fail to secure spots at Euro 2028 through qualifying, that would present a messy process to determine which teams are left out.