UEFA said on Friday that 32 countries have "shown interest in hosting matches at Euro 2020," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. The tournament "will be staged at 13 cities around the continent." The candidate nations "must submit their full bid dossier by April when they must also choose their host city." UEFA said the countries were Armenia (Yerevan), Azerbaijan (Baku), Belarus (Minsk), Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Croatia (Zagreb), Czech Republic (Prague), Denmark (Copenhagen), England (London), Finland (Helsinki), France (Lyon), Macedonia (Skopje), Germany (Munich), Greece (Athens), Hungary (Budapest), Israel (Jerusalem), Italy (Rome or Milan), Kazakhstan (Astana), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Poland (Warsaw and Chorzow), Portugal (Lisbon or Porto), Ireland (Dublin), Romania (Bucharest), Russia (St Petersburg), Scotland (Glasgow), Serbia (Belgrade), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao or Valencia), Sweden (Solna), Switzerland (Basel), Turkey (Istanbul), Ukraine (Kiev or Donetsk) and Wales (Cardiff) (REUTERS, 9/20).
CITIES COULD CHANGE: The BBC reported the candidates "have the right to change their initial host city selection, but must submit their final choices" by April 25. The FA wants to host "either the 'finals' package -- which is the semi-finals and final -- at Wembley, or a 'standard' package of three group games and a knock out round match, while Scotland is keen on the latter." UEFA President Michel Platini has previously "stated his support for Istanbul to host the finals if the Turkish city lost out on hosting the 2020 Olympics, which it failed to get." UEFA will decide on Sept. 25, 2014, which cities will host games (BBC, 9/20).
