The UK and Ireland will host Euro 2028 while Turkey and Italy have been awarded 2032.
The UEFA executive committee gave the green light to the five-nation bid, which ran unopposed after Turkey withdrew last week to focus on its joint bid with Italy for Euro 2032.
Ten stadia were included in the UK-Ireland bid submission in April. Six of the venues are in England, with one each from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The tournament will be held in June and July of 2028 – exactly seven years since England and Scotland both hosted games during the re-arranged tournament, which was held across Europe.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham told Sky Sports: “We’re delighted. It’s been three years of hard work to get to this point. It’s fantastic for us and the country, the home nations and Ireland. We’re really looking forward to it.
“We worked really hard to put together a really strong bid and we think that’s probably the reason we were unopposed in the end.”
UEFA is projecting that it will make more money from Euro 2028 than any other major tournament, including Euro 2032.
How will host nations qualify?
UEFA favours all five countries going through qualification, with two automatic places set aside for those who don’t qualify on the pitch.
The FA wants England to stay competitive by playing in qualifiers, avoiding two years of friendlies instead.
“From our point of view, it’s great to be taking part in qualifying and we want to get everyone there,” Bullingham told Sky Sports.
“It is better to play in a tournament where it matters and we have competitive games. We’re looking forward to that.
“It’s always been part of our discussions with the other countries and UEFA that we would take part in qualifying. We think with the new format of European football that’s the right thing to do.”
If, for example, three of the five countries failed to qualify, it would be equally messy to decide which two of those three would progress to the tournament.
One possibility is that the best-performing two countries in qualifying would be granted a “wild card” for the finals.
Where will the games be played?
The six venues in England are Wembley, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Etihad Stadium, St James’ Park, Villa Park and Everton’s new home at Bramley-Moore Dock, which is currently under construction.
A redeveloped Casement Park in Belfast, the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Hampden Park in Glasgow and the Principality Stadium in Cardiff were the other stadia included in the submission.
There are going to be 24 teams involved with 51 games played during the tournament.
Sky Sports News understands 28 matches will be played in England with six each in Scotland, Wales and Ireland plus five in Northern Ireland.
The opening game is expected to be played in Cardiff with the semi-finals and final played at Wembley.
The quarter-finals will take place at Wembley, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Bullingham said: “It’s a really good partnership. We know we’re going to have five games in Northern Ireland, six in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
“It’s brilliant those countries are going to get a significant portion of games, particularly if they end up with some of their own home games – it will really excite the countries.”
Source: Sky Sports
