The UK and Ireland have submitted their preliminary bid to host the UEFA Euro 2028 Championship, but the Emirates Stadium isn’t set to be involved.
Sky Sports report that the UK and Ireland have submitted their bid to host Euro 2028, putting in their preliminary bid dossier. However, Simon Collings adds that the Emirates Stadium isn’t currently on the list of proposed host cities, as follows:
- Birmingham – Villa Park
- Liverpool – Everton Stadium
- London – London Stadium
- London – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- London – Wembley Stadium
- Manchester – City of Manchester Stadium
- Newcastle – St. James’ Park
- Sunderland – Stadium of Light
- Trafford – Old Trafford
- Dublin – Dublin Arena
- Dublin – Croke Park
- Belfast – Casement Park Stadium
- Glasgow – Hampden Park
- Cardiff – National Stadium of Wales
The Emirates Stadium is really only competing against the other London clubs on this list. The Emirates Stadium may be a better ground to host the Euros than Villa Park, but it’s not ideal to hold all your games in one city.
Spreading the fixtures around the country helps with the logistics – you don’t want two or three major international fixtures in the same city on the same day – and it also allows people from all over the UK to see some local games.
The decision to host games at the London Stadium over the Emirates is presumably one motivated by money (there are more seats in the London Stadium) and the logistics, with better public transport links to the ground.
Watching football at the Emirates is objectively a better experience than watching it at the London Stadium, where you probably need a pair of binoculars to identify players.
But that will be a secondary concern compared to the finances and accessibility.