UEFA Euro 2020

The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2020 for short, will be the 16th quadrennial top-level European football event. It will be held in the summer of 2020. The host nation(s) are yet to be selected. Should the selection process and timeline used for Euro 2012 be applied again, the host(s) will be chosen in the spring of 2015.

Hosting requirements

A minimum of eight stadia is necessary to host a championship in the present 16-team format. Minimum eight stadia must have above 30,000 seats, three of those eight must have above 40,000 seats and a , and at least one of those three must have 50,000 seats and a . Should the tournament be expanded to 24 teams, the experience of past 24-team World Cups (1982 to 1994) shows that 9 to 12 stadia are necessary to host such a competition. This would favour bids from single large countries or joint bids by two or more medium-size countries.

Possible bids

At such a premature stage, currently there are no official bids in place, but the following are reported to be considering bids:

Bulgaria/Romania

This is potentially the first time these two countries have bid to host a major football tournament. The bid is supported both by the Federaţia Română de Fotbal and the Bulgarian Football Union, and is the goal of UEFA committee member Mircea Sandu.

SOFIA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Soccer news in brief from around the world:
* Balkan neighbours Bulgaria and Romania could table a joint bid to host the 2020 European Championship finals, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) said, "This is not a mirage, it's completely possible," BFU president Borislav Mihaylov was quoted as saying in Bulgarian newspaper 7 dni sport. "It's not about an Olympic Games, it's only a one-sport competition. We must build four new stadiums and we can do it in the next 12 years" [ [http://sport.hotnews.ro/stiri-fotbal-2004313-bulgaria-confirma-vrea-organizeze-euro-2020-impreuna-romania.htm Bulgaria confirma: vrea sa organizeze EURO 2020 impreuna cu Romania] ]

It has also been suggested that Hungary may invite Romania to co-host either Euro 2016 or Euro 2020. If this was to occur, Romania and Bulgaria would be unable to form a joint bid.

Stadia

Bulgaria

* Vasil Levski National Stadium, is one of Bulgaria's largest sports venues and the country's largest stadium. The stadium has 43,632 seats and is located in the centre of Sofia and has been awarded the UEFA 4-star rating. The stadium was officially opened in 1953 and reconstructed twice, in 1966 and 2002. The Bulgaria national football team's home matches and the Bulgarian Cup finals are held at the venue, as well as various athletics competitions. It was also used as the home venue for Levski Sofia's UEFA Champions League games. It was the proposed venue for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Sofia's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
* Plovdiv Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 48,000. The stadium's present condition is poor, with no UEFA licence, no lights and only a few games are played there (mostly junior teams). It is the only stadium in Bulgaria with two-tier stands. The biggest events held in this stadium were a Metallica concert in 1999 and the IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics in 1991.
* Balgarska Armyia Stadium ("Stadium of the Bulgarian Army") is the home ground of the Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia. It is situated in the Borisova Gradina ("Boris' Park"), in the centre of Sofia. The stadium has four sectors and 22,015 seats, of which 2,100 covered.
* Georgi Asparuhov Stadium is the home of the Bulgarian football club PFC Levski Sofia. It was built in the period 1960-1963 mostly with donations by the supporters, and initially had a capacity of 36,000 seats plus an unknown standing capacity. The capacity has been reduced to 29,800 seats after new seating was installed and terraces removed in 1999.
* Ticha Stadium New is a multi-use stadium in Varna. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is currently being renovated to 30,000 seats, with a current capacity of 12,000. [http://www.stadiumguide.com/tichanew.htm]

Romania

* Lia Manoliu Arena is a planned football stadium that will be built in Bucharest, Romania. It is planned to be ready in 2010 and it will host the national team's games and the Romanian Cup finals. The owners, the Municipality of Bucharest, will pay €142,000,000 [ [http://www.cotidianul.ro/fara_numar_pentru_lia_manoliu-17186.html The national stadium costs more then the stadiums used in the 2006 World cup] ] towards its construction, which will be able to hold 55,000 people but with a potential expansion of 63,000 people. It will be the first UEFA 5-Star venue in Romanian football. [ [http://sport.rol.ro/Diverse/Asa-va-arata-Lia-Manoliu-Arena.htm The national stadium] ]

* Ghencea Stadium (or Ghencea) is the home of FC Steaua Bucharest and is a UEFA 3-star stadium (because UEFA 4-star stadiums must have a minimum capacity of 30,000 the stadium has been given only three). Also called the Steaua Stadium, it was inaugurated in April 9, 1974. At the time it was one of the first football-only stadiums ever built in Romania, as there are no athletic (track and field) facilities and the stands are very close to the pitch. The original capacity was 30,000 on benches, but in 1991 when the plastic seats were installed, the capacity dropped to 28,139, along with 126 press seats, 17 personal boxes of 12 seats each and 733 armchairs. The floodlighting system, with a density of 1400 lux, has been inaugurated in 1991. Today, following two general renovations in 1996 and 2006 in order to host UEFA Champions League games, Ghencea is the most modern stadium in Romania offering some state-of-the-art facilities such as: a four-star establishment with all the facilities required for the team, internet for the press-room, 17 cameras for video surveillance, electrically heated pitch, an automated irrigation system, and a modern scoreboard capable of playing replays. Lately there have been talks for increasing the capacity to either 45,000 or 60,000 with the company that, among others, has worked on building stadia such as Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt and renovating ones as Olympiastadion in Berlin.

* Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium is a football stadium in Cluj (Gruia district). It is the home ground of CFR Cluj. Currently it has 12,813 seats and it is currently undergoing major renovations. When finished in August 2008 it will have 28,000 seats and will be suitable for supporting UEFA Champions League games. The plans of construction have a built in clause of an expansion to a 40,000 capacity stadium. As the present 28,000 capacity involves a horse-shoe form, with no north stand, adding the eventual stand can upgrade the stadium to more than 40,000.

* Stadionul Dan Păltinişanu is a multi-use stadium in Timişoara, built in 1960 and modernised in the last years. It is currently used mostly for football matches by the local team FCU Politehnica Timişoara. The stadium has a capacity of 40,000 seaters and a Light Installation of 1,465 lux. The stadium has the largest capacity in the country, since the National Stadium in Bucharest is being reconstructed.

Czech Republic/Slovakia

The Heads of Government of the Czech Republic and Slovakia have backed the idea of a joint bid for the organization of Euro 2020. It was launched on 31st October 2007 by President of the Federation Czech Pavel Mokry. But Mirek Topolanek and Robert Fico agreed that their two nations were still far from being able to conform to the specifications of UEFA. In 1996, the Czech Republic had flirted with the idea of making a joint bid for Euro 2004 with Austria.

There would probably be one 50,000 capacity venue for the final, two 40,000 capacity venues for the semi-finals while the rest would be around 30,000 for group games. From this it seems the Czech Republic and Slovakia would only be able to meet the minimum level of UEFA's stadia requirements.

Stadia

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is putting serious efforts in building a new 50,000 capacity stadium so they can really count in the Czech Republic/Slovakia bid for EURO 2020. But they have some interesting stadiums ready for expansion to meet the minimal requirements.

* The AXA Arena is a football stadium in Prague. It is the home venue of Sparta Prague and often the home stadium of the Czech National Football Team. Formerly known as the Letná Stadium (Letenský stadion) and as the Toyota Arena, it is now named after its sponsor, AXA. The first stadium on the place opened in 1921, the current stadium has been built in 1969 and reconstructed 1994. It holds 20,854 people.
* Na Stinadlech is a multi-use stadium in Teplice, Czech Republic. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FK Teplice. The stadium holds 18,221 and was built in 1973. The Czech Republic national football team often plays qualification games at the stadium and has very positive statistics there, they have only lost points there once; in a friendly game against Sweden where they drew 3-3.

* Stadion Eden is a football stadium in Prague, Czech Republic. It hosts home matches of SK Slavia Praha and the Czech Republic national football team. The stadium has a capacity of about 21,000 people and it is the most modern football stadium in Czech Republic. Slavia finally presented a project of the new stadium, but no construction has started. In December 2003, the old Eden stadium was torn down and Slavia announced that the new stadium will be opened on October 19, 2005, however, by October 2005 the construction has not even started. It took one more year to start. The project had to be scaled down to lower the construction cost from 1.8 billion Czech crowns to less then 1 billion.

The construction started in October 2006. Despite the stadium was not fully finished, it was opened on May 7, 2008 with an exhibition match against Oxford University A.F.C.. Many former Slavia stars (such as Pavel Kuka, Patrik Berger, Jan Suchopárek and Ivo Knoflíček) took part in this match.

Slovakia

* Tehelné pole (meaning "Brickfield").Most commonly the name refers to the football stadium which is the home field for Slovan Bratislava and the regular home for the Slovakia national team. The stadium has a capacity of 30,085 spectators, and is 105 m long and 68 m wide. It is planned that the current stadium will be demolished and a new one with the capacity around 35,000 people will be built, costing around 80 million Euro. The need for a new stadium stems from the UEFA rules, which require to play international matches on stadiums of certain standards from 2008, however, Slovakia lacks these stadiums so far.

Croatia/Serbia

A similarly possible and politically attractive bid could come from Balkan neighbours Croatia and Serbia, republics of the former Yugoslavia that broke up in the 1990s after the Yugoslav Wars, in which the two countries fought against each other. A joint hosting between Croatia and Serbia would signify the era of peace that has been established in the region, and by 2020 they would have significant time to develop new and redevelop existing suitable stadia in cities such as Zagreb, Split, Beograd and Nis.

This bid will not be as powerful as the Euro 2012 bid with Hungary & Croatia, a more impressive country, a better infrastructure and more founds for sauce an event than Serbia , but the Croatians have no other solution then a single bid for the tournament, a standard it is not capable of.

Stadia

Croatia

Maksimir Stadium (official name: "Stadion Maksimir", English: "Maksimir Stadium") is a stadium in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. It takes its name from the neighbourhood of Maksimir. It is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top football team in the country.There have been plans to further expand the stadium to seat approximately 60,000 spectators, as well as to build a roof, but in 2004 they were temporarily suspended. As of December 2007, the public was avaiting the presentation of new stadium, and in 2008 city government presented two potential stadiums, new Maksimir and Vulkan (Volcano) which is supposed to be built on the another location (Kajzerica) in Zagreb and old Maksimir should then be knocked down, but the citizens will choose which one they want on the referendum predicted to be in autumn 2008.

Poljud is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Split. It takes its name from the neighbourhood of Poljud, its original name is "Gradski stadion u Poljudu" ("City Stadium in Poljud"). It is the home of HNK Hajduk Split, one of the top football teams in the country. The stadium currently has a capacity of 35,000.The reconstruction on the stadium is planned. It will cost approximately 90 million euro. After reconstruction the stadium will have 44.000 seats. The reconstruction was planned as a part of a joint Croatian-Hungarian bid to host the Euro 2012 competition. Since Croatia and Hungary did not get the organization for Euro 2012, the planned reconstruction is for now on hold.

Serbia

Stadion Crvena Zvezda (Serbian: Стадион Црвена Звезда/The Red Star Stadium), is a football stadium in Belgrade. Colloquially known as Marakana after the famous Brazilian stadium, it's a multi-use stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Red Star Belgrade. The stadium is all-seated and the capacity is 55,000. It was opened in 1963 after construction which had started three years earlier.

Čair Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Niš, Serbia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Radnički Niš. The stadium holds 8,900 people. The stadium only has 20,000 spectaturs for the whole year.Future developmentThere are plans of demolishing the stadium and building a new stadium in its place. That is only possible if they get the estimate 30,000,000 dinar which they do not have.

=Armenia/Azerbaijan/Georgia=

Three of the most easterly UEFA members have begun negotiations to see if it is viable to bring Euro 2020 to the Caucasus region. This may represent some logistical difficulties with UEFA as Armenia is entirely in Southwest Asia, whilst Georgia and Azerbaijan are either partially or entirely in Asia. However, all three countries are UEFA members, UEFA has no problem with all three countries competing in their national team and club competitions, and all three have attempted qualifying for the World Cup via the UEFA route. Some difficulties are in fact presented however by the fact that, were this bid successful, the European Championships would for the first time be geographically held outside of Europe.

Stadia

Armenia

The Hrazdan Stadium in Yerevan is the biggest stadium in Armenia. Opened in 1972, it is an all-seater arena and has a capacity of roughly 55,000, after the most recent reconstruction in 2008. It is home to the Armenian national football team and Ararat Yerevan. The second biggest stadium in Armenia is the Republican Stadium, renovated in 2000 and is the home ground of Pyunik Yerevan, located also in Yerevan. It can hold nearly 15,000 people, which in its present state is too small to host a European Championship match.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has no stadia capable of hosting European Championship games at the moment. The biggest stadium is Tofik Bakhramov Stadium in the capital Baku, which holds about 30,000 all-seater and was built in 1952. It is home to Neftchi Baku and Dinamo Baku and the Azerbaijan national football team. The second biggest stadium is the Mehdi Huseyn-zade in Sumgayit. It holds 16,000 people and is also an all-seater stadium. Baku is planning a bid for the 2020 Olympic Games after they failed in their bid for the 2016 Games, so there is a possibility that a new Olympic Stadium in Baku would be in place by 2020.

Georgia

The Boris Paichadze Stadium is the biggest stadium in Georgia and currently the second biggest out of the three bidding countries. It holds around 55,000 people and is an all-seater stadium. It was built in 1972. It is home to the Georgian national football team. The second biggest stadium in the country is the Mikheil Meshki Stadium. It is home to FK Dynamo Tbilisi and FK Lokomotivi Tbilisi. It holds just under 30,000 people, with 25,000 seats.

Currently, none of these three countries are close to the minimum UEFA Stadia Requirements.

References