Football's coming home! Wembley Stadium to host Euro 2020 final as iconic London venue sees off competition from Munich to stage showpiece
* Wembley Stadium will host the final and semi-finals of Euro 2020
* The London venue was awarded the matches at a vote of UEFA's ExCo in Geneva on Friday
* Wembley beat off competition from the Allianz Arena in Munich
* It will be the first tournament football staged on English soil since Euro 96
* England manager Roy Hodgson and FA Chairman Greg Dyke were in attendance as the decision was announced
* The four quarter finals will be staged in Munich, Baku, St Petersburg and Rome
* Copenhagen, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Dublin, Bilbao, Budapest, Brussels and Glasgow will host three group games and a round of 16 tie
England will at last stage another major football tournament after Wembley was awarded the final and semi-finals of Euro 2020 in Geneva on Friday.
Munich withdrew from the final stages bid at the last moment making the choice of London and Wembley by UEFA's executive committee unanimous.
The tournam
The tournament is being staged in 13 cities across Europe – the brainchild of UEFA president Michel Platini.
Wembley Stadium will host the final and semi-finals of Euro 2020 after the English national stadium saw off competition from Munich's Allianz Arena at a UEFA ExCo vote in Geneva on Friday
UEFA President Michel Platini announces that London will host the Euro 2020 final and semi-finals alongside host and former Miss Switzerland Melanie Winiger at the announcement in Geneva
Platini poses with a smiling FA chairman Greg Dyke and the trophy after the announcement is made
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EURO 2020 HOST CITIES
FINAL AND SEMI-FINALS
Wembley Stadium, England
THREE GROUP GAMES AND ONE QUARTER-FINAL
Baku, Azerbaijan
Munich, Germany
Rome, Italy
St Petersburg, Russia
THREE GROUP GAMES AND ONE LAST 16 MATCH
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Glasgow, Scotland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Bucharest, Romania
Amsterdam, Holland
Bilbao, Spain
Budapest, Hungary
Brussels, Belgium
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After the doomed bids to hold the World Cups in 2006 and 2018, this was the first successful campaign by the FA since the decision in Lisbon 1992 to award Euro 96 to England.
FA chairman Greg Dyke said: 'We’re delighted it’s nice to win one. Wembley is a great stadium and What a good idea this is to play a tournament across Europe, congratulations to UEFA.
'Some of our England players will still be around. It can be a great of them to take us to Wembley. It’s a brave man who predicts the winners of tournaments.'
The UEFA vote for Wembley – held in an eyesore exhibition building in Geneva – was regarded almost as a foregone conclusion with the big FA party including England manager Roy Hodgson, FA chairman Greg Dyke and past and present Ministers of Sport Helen Grant and Kate Hoey, London Mayor Boris Johnson’s Commissioner for sport.
UEFA regard Wembley as their favourite stadium on the continent, especially with its money-making potential from the tier of 17,000 corporate seats. The ground has hosted UEFA’s flagship Champions League final twice in the last four years.
It was a complicated secret ballot with the 17-strong voting UEFA executive, which includes Manchester United director David Gill not involved in any vote involving their own country.
This much needed boost for Wembley also comes with the stadium starting next year the task of renewing the corporate seats sales that bankrolled the ground when they were sold as 10-year packages in 2007.
Platini said 'It was a dream and now it has become a reality' as he opened the envelope with London’s name inside.
The four cities chosen to host quarter-finals and three group stages were predictably oil-rich Baku, Munich, St Petersburg and Rome all of which have 60,000 capacity stadiums.
Copenhagen, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Dublin, Bilbao, Budapest, Brussels and Glasgow will host three group games and a round of 16 tie.
The biggest losers were Wales who were expected to be chosen in front of Scotland with Glasgow the last city to be named by Platini in a zonal pair with Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
Wales had been fearful the night before the vote that UEFA politics would ensure an inferior bid was chosen to make for a better spread of venues across Eastern Europe.
But they will be devastated at missing out by one vote to Glasgow, whose Hampden Park commercial plans were described as 'inadequate' by UEFA inspectors.
Scotland FA chief executive Stewart Regan made special mention about the role played by former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in helping Hampden across the line.
He said: 'Everyone saw that Glasgow was capable of with the Commonwealth Games and that really put Glasgow on the map.
'Sir Alex came in last week with a video in support of our bid and spoke passionately about it and I am sure that must have helped.
'We knew we had a strong bid . We focused on the fact that this is the 60th anniversary and we focused on the history and heritage of football.
'We knew Michel Platini is a football man and that’s why we played strongest on and that’s why we used Sir Alex.'
The heritage of the stadium and its successful hosting of the athletics during the Commonwealth Games are also said to have played in part in them piping Wales by one vote.
A statement from the Welsh FA, meanwhile, said: 'The FAW is obviously extremely disappointed by today’s news but would like to congratulate those cities that have been chosen as UEFA EURO 2020 host cities.
'We believed that the Millennium Stadium, with its 74,154 capacity and extensive Skybox and hospitality facilities, would have been an ideal venue for UEFA EURO 2020 and provide UEFA with significant revenues.
'In addition, we proposed strong transport and accommodation plans given that four international airports are located within two hours of Cardiff and that we secured accommodation for 41,000 supporters, all in areas covered by the FAW’s free travel commitment.
'We also proposed that any surplus generated from Cardiff hosting UEFA EURO 2020 matches would have been invested into community football projects throughout Wales. But we of course respect UEFA’s decision.
'The FAW would like to thank all the partners that worked so hard to support Cardiff’s bid. While they, like us, will be disappointed with today’s news, there is much to be positive about Welsh football as we look to the future.'
The other cities that will host the first pan-European tournament across 13 venues– the 60th anniversary of the competition - likely to be played over four weeks in June 2020 are Copenhagen, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Budapest and Brussels.
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FULL DETAILS OF THE VENUES
Baku, Azerbaijan - Baki Olimpiya Stadionu (68,000 currently under construction)
Brussels, Belgium - Proposed new national stadium (50,000-60,000)
Copenhagen, Denmark - Parken Stadion (38,065)
London, England - Wembley Stadium (90,000)
Munich, Germany - Allianz Arena (67,812 to be expanded to 75,000)
Amsterdam, Holland - Amsterdam ArenA (53,052 to be expanded to 55,000-56,000)
Budapest, Hungary - Puskas Ferenc Stadion (56,000 but new stadium proposed with 65,000)
Dublin, Ireland - Aviva Stadium (51,700)
Rome, Italy - Stadio Olimpico (72,698)
Bucharest, Romania - Arena Nationala (55,600)
St Petersburg, Russia - New Zenit Stadium (69,500)
Glasgow, Scotland - Hampden Park (52,063)
Bilbao, Spain - San Mames Barria (53,332)
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