The 10 English stadiums in the running for UEFA Euro 2028 and the ones who missed out have been revealed earlier this week.
The number of venues hoping to be part of a British Isles bid for the 2028 European Championship has been cut to 10 in England, with Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and Leeds United’s Elland Road among those currently out of the running.
Southampton, Leicester, Wolves, Brighton and Nottingham Forest are the other Premier League clubs whose grounds are not on the latest list of 30,000-plus seater arenas in contention to stage football’s second-biggest tournament.
However, the homes of League One outfit MK Dons and Championship side Sunderland both remain in the race, alongside Wembley, Old Trafford, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London Stadium, Etihad Stadium, Bramley Moore Dock, St James’ Park and Villa Park.
No room for Anfield and Elland Road – but Stadium MK makes Euro 2028 shortlist (HT @ben_rumsby) https://t.co/zH13TeANnL
— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) September 20, 2022
Telegraph Sport adds that potentially two or more of those venues face missing out on inclusion on a draft list of up to 14 bid leaders plan to submit to UEFA in mid-November, which will feature up to six grounds in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Although nothing is set in stone – particularly given Euro 2028 could yet expand from 24 to 32 teams – only 10 stadiums are expected to make the final cut in April and just five in England, with Wembley guaranteed to be one of them.
The plan is for the remainder to be selected from one of four regions of England – the south, the midlands, the north, and the far north.
It means all but one of Old Trafford, the Etihad Stadium and Everton’s planned new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium could also fail to make the final list.
Anfield and Stamford Bridge were ruled out altogether because their pitches are too small to meet the minimum size requirement to host Euros games.
The drop in the number of stadiums to be used is currently being considered for submission by the bid comes after the Telegraph disclosed debt-ridden cities could boycott it in protest at being forced to foot a multi-million-pound bill for hosting matches.
A number of local authorities in England are angry by the terms and conditions for staging games at the tournament and the need to commit to complying with them during a cost-of-living crisis.
It’s said to be “deep disquiet” over the “complete lack of awareness of the financial crisis in local government” amid claims there had been “no firm offer of financial support” to help host cities cover their costs, nor of a share of any profits made from the tournament.
The Telegraph has also been told that there is a number of reasons some venues have dropped out of the process, including an inability to guarantee a stadium would be in a position to stage games or comply with tournament requirements and an unwillingness to enter into a futile contest against bigger grounds.
UEFA announced last year that Euro 2028 would require 10 stadiums and plans have been drawn up for up to five of those in the final British Isles submission to include Glasgow’s Hampden Park, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Belfast’s Casement Park or Windsor Park and Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and Croke Park, while Murrayfield in Edinburgh has been all but ruled out due to the cost of staging matches.
Under UEFA’s Host City Agreement, costs would include providing the governing body, its commercial partners and the host football associations with “all required and necessary public land, public facilities and public infrastructure” and “all basic services”, including electricity, water, waste management and cleaning, free of charge.
It includes the cost of providing a free fan zone and “free or reduced fares on the national rail system to all match ticket holders and accredited staff and media”.
The Telegraph has been told English host cities would have to pay between a quarter and half the total bill for staging matches there, with the Government stumping up the remainder.
The good news is the Euros could provide a nine-figure economic boost to any countries and cities involved, local authorities were said to be in danger of seeing little return themselves on their investment.
UEFA expect to make a profit in excess of £1 billion on Euro 2028 – even more if it voted to expand the competition in the coming weeks.
Uefa announced that any bid would require one stadium of at least 60,000 capacity, one or two of at least 50,000 capacity, four of at least 40,000 capacity and three of at least 30,000 capacity.
It also confirmed the final bid dossier submission deadline for the tournament would be the 12th of April 2023, with the hosts chosen that September.
The British Isles bid was expected to be unchallenged ahead of March’s deadline for national associations to confirm their interest in staging the event, only for both Turkey and Russia to make shock declarations.
The Russian bid was blocked over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Turkish attempts has also been unsuccessful.
Fans gave their reaction to the 10 English stadiums left in the running for Euro 2028…
@jorjwwfc: STADIUM MK ARE YOU HAVING A LAUGH
@Chrisgill95: Bramley Moore on Euro shortlist … you know who won’t like that
@Paddock_View: They are ‘Scouse not English’ so they wont be bothered anyway……… honest
@MatFlusk: Bramley Moore making this shortlist over Anfield emphasises why Everton had to make the painful decision to leave L4 and move closer to the city.
@Stuj4z: Remember when we were told that Molineux would be put forward for consideration after it had been redeveloped? 🤣🤣🤣
@neilhoultram: Euro 2028 at BMD 💙👌
@daviddownie17: Bramley Moore is included on the shortlist. This is a bad day for the those who mocked the Toffees with a cone…
@scog27: The worst stadium in Scotland makes the list. It should be Celtic Park! Even Ibrox or Murrayfield would be better than Hampden.
@Allcheese1: Oh, just f*ck off 😂😂 ER is out if this world for internationals. You only need reflection to the last game played there.
@RobChadwick8: Wembley, Bramley Moore, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London Stadium, Etihad Stadium.
@gjengland: Wembley, Spurs, Etihad, Everton, and Villa park
@NicoYork:
Wembley
Everton
Spurs
Newcastle
Man City
@MichaelOsolcock: Accrington Stanley, AFC Darwen, Marley, Morecambe & Harrogate
@nicksheldon: Wembley, Everton, Spurs, St James Park and Villa Park – fair spread around the country
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