By David Gold
March 8 – Georgia is planning to bid to host the European Championships in 2020 with neighbours Azerbaijan, their President, Mikheil Saakashvili, said on Wednesday.
Saakashvili (pictured) was speaking to the Azerbaijani Parliament when he confirmed that “Azerbaijan and Georgia…will apply to jointly host the European football championships in 2020”.
Azerbaijan is also bidding to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Baku in 2020, and is holding the Women’s Under-17 World Cup later this year.
Were the two countries to prove successful with their ambitions, it would be the latest of a number of major sports events to come to the region.
Not far from Georgia, Sochi is hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, while Russia is staging the 2018 World Cup, and this summer Ukraine and Poland are staging the European Championships.
Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria have all been linked with various joint bids for the 2020 event, as have Euro 2000 co-hosts Netherlands and Belgium.
Turkey is another country that has been mooted after missing out on Euro 2016 to France.
They are also bidding for the 2020 Summer Games.
Neither Georgia or Azerbaijan have qualified for a major international football competition since the break up of the Soviet Union and subsequent independence in 1991.
UEFA is expected to make a decision on the Euro 2020 host in 2014.
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