There was some exciting news for Scottish football fans earlier today when UEFA announced that the UK & Ireland were now the sole bidders for the Euro 2028 tournament.
Turkey is now focusing on putting a joint bid together with Italy for the 2032 edition, leaving the nations closer to home on the brink of being announced as the official hosts.
The UEFA Executive Committee are now expected to announce that news after a meeting scheduled for October 10th. So, while not yet confirmed, it really does seem that major tournament football is heading back to Scotland.
Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff and a range of locations throughout England have been named on the official bid list when it comes to venues, but Celtic Park won’t be part of the fun.
Scottish FA opt for Hampden over Celtic Park in Euro 2028 bidding
Despite the home of the Bhoys being the largest stadium in Glasgow, the Scottish FA have opted to push for Hampden Park as the arena of choice for tournament games. And it seems it was a one-stadium per city set-up amongst the host nations.
Only one venue in each of the big cities around the isles has been nominated, except for London where both Wembley and the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur stadium have been put forward.
With the tournament will come a host of upgrades to Hampden, as shared by Ian Maxwell earlier this year. It seems part of a wider strategy so Celtic Park was never going to be given preference.
Hampden also has better-equipped press areas, dressing rooms and stadium access in terms of coach tunnels, which is a pretty big deal for organisations like UEFA when considering these events.
So while we all naturally favour Celtic Park to Hampden as supporters, from a logistical point of view it makes sense that it would go to the national stadium – especially with the SFA involved in the bid.
Still, it will be a big, eye-catching event we can all look forward to. No one can predict the future, but based on previous editions it seems likely that a number of Celtic players will also be involved and they might especially enjoy playing in front of a ‘home’ crowd across the city!
In other news, Celtic included on global list of most valuable football brands; only Scottish entry.
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