By Andrew Warshaw
September 10 – Istanbul’s failure to land the 2020 summer Olympics could have a direct knock-on effect in terms of Turkey bidding for a slice of Euro 2020. UEFA president Michel Platini has long insisted that if the Turks staged the Games they would be ruled out of the selection process for the one-off pan-European Euros the same summer.
With the September 12 deadline for applications fast approaching, Turkey could now suddenly switch their ambitions to Europe’s flagship tournament. And they would likely expect to have Platini’s support.
Turkey controversially lost out to France by one vote for 2016 and as a result would almost certainly have won Platini’s support to stage Euro 2020 had the tournament been open to single-nation hosts and had they not decided to go for the Olympics. Platini didn’t vote in the 2016 ballot but Turkey are convinced he played a crucial role in lobbying for his home country.
Under his pan-Continental blueprint, Platini’s ‘Euro for Europe’ vision foresees matches being split into 13 different packages, with 12 ordinary packages – including three group matches and one knockout game – and one package for the semi-finals and the final.
Countries have until Thursday to submit bids, with UEFA due to formally verify applications at its executive committee meeting in Dubrovnik on September 20. Successful applicants will be announced in September next year.
Whether the Turks, having lost out for the Olympics, will attempt to take on the likes of England and Germany and bid for the Euro semifinals and final – due to be held in the same city – or will push instead to be group stage hosts is an intriguing question.
So is whether match-fixing, which has rocked the Turkish game in the recent months, will be taken into consideration when the UEFA executive committee meets on September 19 and 20 to study all candidate applications. UEFA will be fully aware too of the sparse attendances that marred the recent world youth cup in Turkey.
Turkey’s best bet may be to wait yet another four years and bid to stage the entire championship in 2024 on their own. They would have an immensely powerful case, not least because of their capability to stage an enlarged 24-team finals. But Platini, of course, may have departed UEFA by then and not be around to support them.
Without any public statement of intent from the Turks vis-a-vis 2020, it’s hard to be certain what their current thinking is but all should soon be revealed.
Meanwhile, the Swiss Football Association (SFV) has become the latest national federation to declare an interest by putting forward Basel as a possible host city ahead of this week’s deadline.
Basel’s St Jakob Park stadium hosted matches at the 1954 World Cup and more recently at Euro 2008, which Switzerland co-hosted with Austria and which is probably too recent to give the Swiss a genuine chance.
The SFV has conceded that Switzerland’s status as a recent European Championships host may count against it, adding that it will consider its options once the other candidate cities are made public by UEFA.
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