UK & Ireland confirmed as hosts for Euro 2028

Let's get back to our breaking news. We told you a moment ago that we would be speaking to Kaveh Solokol again over in Switzerland. And Kaveh, what can you tell us? Yes, it has just been officially announced that Euro 2028 will be in the UK and Ireland. And also it's been announced that Euro 2032 will be in Italy and Turkey. We've had a UEFA Executive Committee meeting here this morning. They heard a presentation from the UK and Ireland bid, the sole bidders for 2028. And they also heard a presentation from the Italy and Turkey bid for 2032, the sole bidders for that tournament as well. Obviously, they liked what they heard. It was one of the biggest open secrets in football that 28 would be in UK and Ireland and 32 would be in Italy and Turkey. And it has just been confirmed in the last few minutes here at UEFA headquarters in Nyon that that is going to be the case. Yes, something absolutely brilliant for the whole country to look forward to. Just remind us, Kaveh, exactly how this is going to work across the five host nations. Well, basically what's going to happen is that ten stadiums have been chosen to host this tournament. Six in England, Wembley Stadium, Tottenham Stadium, the Etihad in Manchester. Also, Everton's new ground, St. James' Park and Villa Park. Those are the six stadiums in England. Then there's Hampden Park in Scotland, the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and also Casement Park in Belfast, which needs to be redeveloped and rebuilt before the tournament starts in 2028. Now, there are going to be 24 teams in the tournament. There are going to be 51 games. My understanding is that 28 of those games are going to be in England. There's going to be six in Scotland, six in Wales, six in Ireland, five in Northern Ireland. The opening game, I'm being led to believe, is going to be held in Cardiff and then we're going to have the semifinals and the finals at Wembley Stadium. The quarterfinals, one at Wembley, one in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Ireland. As far as qualification is concerned, the latest information I have is that UEFA wants the five countries to play in the normal qualification process, but there will be two automatic places set aside for any countries who don't make it through qualifying on the pitch. So that is strange because normally, of course, hosts qualify automatically, but this time round, because there are five hosts, I think it would be difficult to have them all qualifying automatically because that would mean they would take up five of the 24 spaces. And I think as far as the FA are concerned, they're actually very, very keen for England to play in qualifying. They don't want England to be playing in meaningless friendlies. They want them to remain competitive. So I think the FA will be pleased that it looks like all five will have to go through the normal qualifying process with the caveat, though, with the safety net that they will have those two automatic qualifying spaces if they fail to qualify on the pitch.