Rishi Sunak (centre), with England captain
Harry Kane (left) and then-England manager
Gareth Southgate (right), at
St George's Park in October 2023. On 23 March 2022, UEFA announced that three proposals had been received from countries declaring an interest in hosting the tournament: one from Russia, one from Turkey, and a joint bid by all five UEFA members from the
British & Irish Isles including
Northern Ireland. Russia and Turkey were simultaneously bidding to host
Euro 2032. Russia submitted its bids despite the ongoing ban by UEFA on Russian clubs and national teams due to
the country's invasion of Ukraine, and in May 2022 its bids for both 2028 and 2032 were declared ineligible. In early October 2023, Turkey withdrew its submission to focus on bidding for Euro 2032 together with Italy. The joint bid thus remained unopposed, and was selected unanimously on 10 October 2023 in
Nyon, Switzerland, meaning that the tournament would be organised by the Republic of Ireland and the four Home Nations of football, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. By late 2024, the proposed Northern Irish venue of
Casement Park in
Belfast was dropped, and it was confirmed that Northern Ireland would not host any games as originally planned, nor would it be eligible for automatic qualification. Euro 2028 will be the fifth European Championship since 2000 to take place in multiple nations, and the second to take place in more than two countries. England will be hosting the tournament for the third time, having previously hosted
Euro 1996 and eight matches (including the final) of the pan-European
Euro 2020. Scotland will be doing so for the second time, after hosting four matches of Euro 2020. For the first time, matches of the competition will be played in the Republic of Ireland and Wales. The Republic of Ireland was initially selected to host matches in Euro 2020, but due to
COVID-19 restrictions it was removed as a host, as the country was unable to confirm spectators could attend. ==Qualification==