Euro 2020 to be staged across continent

UEFA have announced Euro 2020 will be played across Europe as opposed to the traditional format of one or two countries hosting the event.

Gianni Infantino, the general secretary of UEFA’s executive committee, held a press conference on Thursday and revealed the decision was prompted by an idea presented by president Michel Platini in June.

“The main decision today by the committee was that the Euro 2020 finals tournament will be staged across the continent,” he said.

“The idea of hosting the Euros in a number of cities comes from an idea by UEFA president Michel Platini from June this year.

“It was presented to all of the associations and to all of you (the journalists) on the eve of the final of Euro 2012. After that UEFA consulted all of their 53 national associations and we got their feedback.

“The response was extremely positive and has prompted the decision we are announcing today. I do have to say, however, that the idea was not supported by one member, Senes Erzik from Turkey.

“This response means that we will take the responsibility to review this matter and come up with concrete proposals on how it will look in terms of competition structure, competition format, number of cities and so on, in the coming weeks.”

“We will report back to the UEFA executive committee who will then make the decision on the bidding which should be complete around March 27 or 28.”