13 countries to host Euro 2020

[Mart!n]

www.uefa.org/about-uefa/executive-committee/news/newsid=1904146.html#euro+europe+explained


The decision to stage a "EURO for Europe", rather than a tournament in one or two host countries.

Personally I think its a good idea, especially for smaller countries that can't host from lack of stadiums.

[Razzle Dazzle]

Logistically a nightmare though

[suedehead]

Apr 26, 2014 23:43:59 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

Logistically a nightmare though

I can only repeat what I said when the suggest first emerged.  Under this plan it is perfectly possible that England could play France in Moscow on the same day that Russia play Poland at Wembley.  That is completely bonkers.

[rewardman]

I think it's daft, sorry.

[Earl Purple]

I'd like to see them make a "swiss" format tournament, a bit like a round-robin but where you don't play every other team. And it makes sense to host it in multiple countries but have one team playing at home, with teams playing mostly alternate home and away games.

It should end with one final match played at a neutral stadium, probably pre-determined.

If England play France it should be either in England or in France. The plane journeys between European countries are usually not that long.

It would be interesting to see that formula for a world cup too, except that the countries outside of Europe (or South America if it is hosted there) would "pick" a country to act as their "home" within that area. (Or they would be allocated one). That would mean that the supporters would be able to stay in one location for "home" matches.

[Panda]

The Euro 2020 format is one of those things that seems like a nice idea on paper but the reality is a logistical nightmare, especially for the fans who always seem to be an afterthought (at every level of football, not just at the very top).

[Earl Purple]

The option I suggested could also be done in a European one, where a number of countries host, and those countries who do not host are allocated a stadium in one of the host countries to be their "home" ground.

[frag]

Apr 27, 2014 15:19:05 GMT 1 Panda said:

The Euro 2020 format is one of those things that seems like a nice idea on paper but the reality is a logistical nightmare, especially for the fans who always seem to be an afterthought (at every level of football, not just at the very top).

If they tried to minimise the distance travelled by fans/countries (which itself is a pretty hard problem, and I'm sure at some point over the next 5-6 years I'll do some thinking about whether it's tractable), then it would be pretty decent, but beyond the group stage it'd get impossible to satisfy everyone, especially as a team could go into their third match still unsure of which of five COUNTRIES* they'd be playing in at the next round.

* - 1st, 2nd, plus up to three options for 3rd placed teams.

[Panda]

Wembley has been chosen as the venue for the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020. It was selected ahead of Munich, which backed off campaigning for the final so it could bid for the entire 2024 tournament, which England is expected to back.


HOSTS:

FINAL & SEMI-FINALS:
ENGLAND - Wembley Stadium

1 QUARTER-FINAL & 3 GROUP GAMES:
GERMANY - Munich
AZERBAIJAN - Baku
ITALY - Rome
RUSSIA - St. Petersburg

1 LAST 16 GAME & 3 GROUP GAMES:
SCOTLAND - Glasgow (Hampden Park)
IRELAND - Dublin
DENMARK - Copenhagen
ROMANIA - Bucharest
NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam
SPAIN - Bilbao
HUNGARY - Budapest
BELGIUM - Brussels


Cities that missed out:
Cardiff
Stockholm
Skopje
Minsk
Jerusalem
Sofia

[Shireblogger]

QF in Baku and SF in London. Pity the team that gets that draw.

[frag]

Not sure if they'll organise it this way, but they could have the following set-up (in no particular order):

Group A: Scotland & Ireland
Group B: Denmark & Germany
Group C: Azerbaijan & Russia
Group D: Netherlands & Belgium
Group E: Hungary & Romania
Group F: Italy & Spain

That would minimise travelling distance for fans and players.

However, knowing UEFA, you'd get a team with their first match in Spain, their second in Russia, and their third in Scotland, or something like that.

[suedehead]

Your plan makes for too much sense for UEFA even to consider it.

[Razzle Dazzle]

is there a 3rd v 4th playoff in the euros? take it that's at Wembley aswel if there is

[suedehead]

No, the third place play-off was abolished. Even UEFA makes sensible decisions occasionally.

[Maximo Mark]

Not sure if my England supporting (as in going to games) will go beyond 2016, but it'd be great to watch them in the new San Mames.

[Razzle Dazzle]

cool, cheers suedehead, it always seemed a bit pointless, even the fans don't really care who wins 3rd place

[Panda]

The last 3rd place playoff at the Euros was in 1980.

[Panda]

Wembley will now host 7 games instead of 3 after Brussels was stripped of its right to host games due to doubts over a new stadium being built. Wembley will now host 3 group games and one 2nd round game in addition to both semi-finals and the final.

Cardiff and Stockholm were also in contention to replace Brussels but UEFA's executive committee unanimously chose Wembley.

[o]

That should help pay the bills then...

[Earl Purple]

They choose us for that but never back our world cup bids?

Not that we have anywhere near a team good enough for the 2018 world cup.