Turkey should win Euro 2016 say insideworldfootball readers

By David Owen

May 27 – Turkey should win the right to host the Euro 2016 football tournament, according to insideworldfootball readers.

Asked where the tournament should be played in the latest insideworldfootball opinion poll, a clear majority – 51.9 percent – of respondents voted for Turkey.

France – the country once captained by UEFA President Michel Platini, then an inspirational midfield player, and many people’s favourite to win when UEFA Executive Committee members reach their decision tomorrow – was second in the poll with 27.6 percent of votes.

Italy, the other contender, which was also shortlisted for Euro 2012, a tournament won ultimately by a joint bid from Poland and Ukraine, was third with 20.5 percent.

This vote of confidence in Turkey’s ambitious project, which envisages €1 billion invested in stadiums and a huge upgrade in the country's general infrastructure, comes on the eve of the meeting at Geneva's Espace Hippomène after which the winner will be announced.

In all, 13 UEFA Executive Committee members will decide the outcome, in a process chaired by Geoff Thompson, England's top administrator in international football and newly-enshrined chairman of England's 2018 World Cup bid.

Platini – who like the Turkish and Italian UEFA Executive Committee members will neither take any part in tomorrow’s deliberations nor vote – is expected to announce the winner at about 1pm tomorrow, Swiss time.

If France were to get the nod, there is a good chance that Euro 2016 matches would be staged in both Nancy and Saint-Etienne, the French cities where the UEFA President spent the first decade of his senior playing career before moving to Italy's Juventus.

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