Euro 2020 thread (Part 1)

1

IRELAND could be involved along with Scotland and Wales in a dramatic late bid to host Euro 2020.
UEFA[/url]'s deadline for formal expressions of interest is midnight tonight and as of last night only [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Turkey”]Turkey had come forward to confirm they are bidding.

Officials at the Scottish and Welsh FAs have refused to confirm or deny that a bid will be submitted but sources have confirmed that talks about bidding have taken place.

The expansion of the tournament to 24 teams however means that they would need a third country involved to provide the necessary number of top-class stadiums which is where the Republic of Ireland would come in.

A source told the Press Association: “Discussions have taken place about bidding but we would not be able to bid alone. It may need to be three countries involved.”

A final decision is expected to be taken by the boards of the FAs involved today.

UEFA president Michel Platini[/url] had signalled he would support Turkey’s bid but only if [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Istanbul”]Istanbul failed in its bid to land the Olympics in the same year.

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan confirmed the idea of bidding for Euro 2020 had been discussed.

Regan told www.insidethegames.biz: "I’m not able to comment publicly at this stage because it has not gone to our board but there will be an exchange of correspondence before the deadline.

“It’s obviously something that has been discussed.”

Asked if Scotland and Wales would be able to meet the UEFA criteria for stadiums, Regan replied: “There are other ways of skinning a cat and alternative ways of being considered for a major tournament.”

  • Martyn Ziegler
2

So the Scots were happy to point the finger at us over the 2008 bid as being the reason our joint bid wasn’t successful when they threw us in at the last minute but now they want to jump back into bed again with us? What a bunch of cunts*

*If the bid is successful I reserve the right to change my stance

3

Looks like it will be a win win situation for Rocko

4

The key is to get the official support of a major blue-chip multinational like Diageo - if they do that the tournament is in the bag.

5

Either way I’ll clean up in renting out one of my gaffs to supporters. Never thought I’d get such a windfall again once the Ryder Cup left these shores.

6

I can’t believe you aren’t doing that for the Olympics this summer. Dublin should benefit significantly from our close proximity to London.

7

The FAI are now officially on for this.

8

The full weight of TFK support should be thrown behind this audacious bid for Scotland and Wales to finally qualify for a major football tournament other than the home nations cup thingy.

9

Rocko, is the TFK home ground in Sandymount likely to be one of the venues?

Maybe we should put together a presentation to show how much it would mean to TFK and Sandymount to be one of the host venues.

10

I’m assuming it will which is bad news for the Aviva as they’re unlikely to want two stadia so close together in the one competition. The two Dundee stadia will probably have the same issue.

The Aviva is a fine stadium for qualifying tournaments and the likes but for trophies, history and a billiard table surface I don’t think it comes close to challenging the Sandymount Arena.

11

They’ll hardly let three countries automatically qualify.

12

I think part of the reason they expanded it to 24 was to allow for more multiple bids like this. Still loads of qualifying spots available.

13

I wouldn’t be too keen on this. We’d only be a bit part player in the bid really. And I’d be loathe to qualify automatically and have nothing but friendly matches for a couple of years. It would become like rugby football where we’d over emphasise the importance of these friendly games and try to pass them off as actual important competitions.

14

We could always try to keep the prestigious Carling Cup alive.

15

That’s what I was getting at, Braz. The buzz of the Carling Cup friendlies could over time mirror that of the RBS Six Nations friendlies.

16

Platini clearly doesn’t want to go to Turkey. Rocko should be rightly seething.

UEFA president Michel Platini has dropped a bombshell by claiming Euro 2020 could be held in up to 32 cities across Europe.

Turkey had been favourites to host the event but doubt has been placed over their ability to stage the event due to their ongoing bid for Istanbul to host the Olympic Games in the same year.
It would be impractical to host both, so UEFA are having to look at alternatives.
Platini insists there are other options - a joint bid between Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland has been mentioned - but the controversial Frenchman has raised the potential for a far more radical solution.
“The Euros in 2020 could be held all over Europe,” said Platini.
“We are just thinking about it. I have said 12 or 13 host cities, it could be 24 or 32.”
The reasoning behind what seems, on the face of it, to be a rather bizarre plan, is to save the cost involved of building stadiums and airports.
However, unless the ‘tournament’ was going to be played in cities already used to holding big matches, that expense would still be required.
The details are very sketchy.
However, speaking in Kiev this lunchtime, Platini seems enthused by the prospect.
“It is a great debate,” he said.
“It would be four games per venue and everyone has the possibility to host it.”
The logistical issue of supporters travelling to random venues all over Europe did not seem to be a problem in Platini’s mind, even if the example he used had very little to do with the present tournament, being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
“It is easier to go from London to Paris or Berlin than Cardiff to Gdansk,” he said.
“Turkey going for the Olympics creates a problem for us and we are not going to wait until we know whether they are going to get them.”
Quite how much support Platini’s plan would have is difficult to gauge at this stage.
However, he vowed a final decision would be taken in “January or February”.
“The political decision needs to be made,” he said.
"We wouldn’t have to build stadiums or airports. That could be important in an economic crisis.
“This matter will be discussed very seriously.”
By 2020, the Euros will be a 24-team competition.
The expansion takes effect in France four years from now and seems to bloat a competition that has worked perfectly well over the past three weeks.
“I didn’t take the decision but I am not worried about it,” said Platini.
"We had three World Cups with 24 teams, so I don’t see that as a problem.
“If you consider Norway, Serbia, Belgium and Scotland, plus some others, we have enough good teams for a 24-team competition.”

17

He didn’t have much problem voting for Qatar, but I guess that bid [size=1]moved him [size=6]TO A BIGGER HOUSE![/size][/size]

[size=4]Oh crap. I wrote the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud.[/size]

18

It’s a fairly odd proposal he has come up with. Logistical nightmare to try to follow your team across three games I would have thought if they might all end up in different countries.

19

It’s daft. The success of a tournament depends on the host country getting behind it. Host it in 12 cities, especially large ones, and that isn’t going to be the case at all. Say you have a group played at Wembley and Old Trafford featuring France, Ukraine, Switzerland and Slovenia. The winner goes to Rome to play the second placed team of the Madrid/ Barcelona group. Nobody will give a shit. It won’t happen for now but I then again I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if they tried it for around 2028. Maybe invite a couple of South American teams in as well to spice things up, say Brazil and Argentina. Just on a once-off trial basis, like.

20

UEFA is set to insist that Euro 2020 venues must be served by an airport with at least two terminals.

With 13 cities set to host the matches European governing body is anxious to ensure that air travel will not be an issue.

One of the criteria laid down by planners is that each host city must have two airports or at a minimum two terminals so the two sets of fans can be kept apart.

That is likely to be something of a headache for Cardiff - its airport has a single terminal, and the Welsh FA would have to argue that Bristol or even airports further afield could be used as an alternative for fans.

Dublin is expected to bid to host group matches at Euro 2020, which for the first time is to be http://beta.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2012/1206/357225-uefa-confirm-multi-city-euro-2020/]held across Europe .

The English FA is to bid to host the semi-finals and final at Wembley, or group matches and quarter-finals if that is unsuccessful.

Rival bids for the final are expected from Istanbul - the favourite if it is unsuccessful in its 2020 Olympic bid - plus Madrid, Berlin and Rome.

Two cities with smaller-capacity stadiums will be among the 13 chosen as Euro 2020 hosts in an effort to broaden the reach of the tournament.

Officials drawing up plans for the tournament have said that two host cities can have a stadium capacity as low as 30,000, that 10 stadiums will have a 50,000 minimum capacity and four of those hosting the quarter-finals to have grounds of at least 60,000.

The stadium that hosts the two semi-finals and final will have to be able to seat more than 70,000 fans.

UEFA’s executive committee is expected to agree to the plans at its meeting on 28 March.

The idea in having two 30,000-seater stadiums means smaller countries will be able to enter the bidding - only 21 of the 53 UEFA member nations have stadiums of 50,000 or more.

Tournament planners believe that host countries will be able to play at least two of their group matches at home.

UEFA will also to try to arrange groups on a geographical basis to avoid long journeys across Europe for fans.