Just a thought…how are UEFA going to feel about granting automatic qualification to FIVE countries, as joint hosts?? Surely they won’t go for that. Can only remember joint hosts before, but 5 is taking the proverbial a bit 🤷🏻♂️
They could always allow ROI in and the other four could play off for the final place.
Very good point G. The Republic get one place and then the four countries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland draw lots for the other place. Maybe make England qualify as they always get easy groups anyway, so just have one of Scotland, Wales or Norn Iron. 🤷🏻♂️😉😂
Just a thought…how are UEFA going to feel about granting automatic qualification to FIVE countries, as joint hosts?? Surely they won’t go for that. Can only remember joint hosts before, but 5 is taking the proverbial a bit 🤷🏻♂️
Good point, lets remove Scotland's automatic qualification, and stick them a group with France, Germany and Portugal to qualify
Just a thought…how are UEFA going to feel about granting automatic qualification to FIVE countries, as joint hosts?? Surely they won’t go for that. Can only remember joint hosts before, but 5 is taking the proverbial a bit 🤷🏻♂️
They could always allow ROI in and the other four could play off for the final place.
Very good point G. The Republic get one place and then the four countries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland draw lots for the other place. Maybe make England qualify as they always get easy groups anyway, so just have one of Scotland, Wales or Norn Iron. 🤷🏻♂️😉😂
If we got 2 places I’d quite like for them to be given to the two weakest teams to ensure their participation.
Again it’s not just the stadiums that are important, it’s the availability in the cities that the stadiums are located of sufficient hotel rooms, hospitality (restaurants etc) and decent public transport links. That’s why major cities are typically picked.
Not choosing Edinburgh to host games is a miss however.
Cmon lets be honest here... the Qatar World Cup is proving that there only need to be sufficient Hotel Rooms for the bigwigs - Stick a few tents along the Mall with flags on them, to show which Nations have qualified and it'll have proper Tournament vibes
Just a thought…how are UEFA going to feel about granting automatic qualification to FIVE countries, as joint hosts?? Surely they won’t go for that. Can only remember joint hosts before, but 5 is taking the proverbial a bit 🤷🏻♂️
They could always allow ROI in and the other four could play off for the final place.
Just a thought…how are UEFA going to feel about granting automatic qualification to FIVE countries, as joint hosts?? Surely they won’t go for that. Can only remember joint hosts before, but 5 is taking the proverbial a bit 🤷🏻♂️
They could always allow ROI in and the other four could play off for the final place.
Just a thought…how are UEFA going to feel about granting automatic qualification to FIVE countries, as joint hosts?? Surely they won’t go for that. Can only remember joint hosts before, but 5 is taking the proverbial a bit 🤷🏻♂️
They could always allow ROI in and the other four could play off for the final place.
Why ROI? Because it's their only chance of qualifying? Might as well invite other random countries too.
Multiple country tournaments is what helps FIFA and UEFA to get more votes from member nations during election season. A vote from Northern Ireland counts just as much as a vote from any other country, no matter how big or small.
So Old Trafford, Stadium of Light, London Stadium and Croke Park are dropped from the shortlist of 14.
Old Trafford is surprising but the others make sense.
Old Trafford is showing it's age badly - the Glazers haven't dug into their dividends to modernise it much, the Etihad is newer etc
Same for Everton's new ground I guess, Anfield is creaking a bit.
If you'd have said 10 years ago though that we'd have a bid and not include Old Trafford, Anfield or the Emirates it would have sounded crazy.
Thought I read somewhere that Liverpool's pitch is not big enough to stage international games.
This is correct, the pitch apparently isn't long enough to meet minimum requirements. Has to be 105 metres and theirs is only 101m with no room to extend it.
Also for Old Trafford, it hasn't been left out because it's old and falling apart, it's been left out because they're planning redevelopment work and can't confirm the stadium will be ready and available.
The Villa Park capacity includes the new North Stand. I wonder if St James Park will be expanded before then, with all the Saudi money.
Hampden stands our amongst the other grounds, and not in a good way,
Hampden is a terrible ground, Ibrox, Celtic Park or even Murrayfield would have made much better venues.
Would have to have both Celtic Park and Ibrox or neither (would cause uproar up there if they chose one against the other), agree Murryfield would be better the Hampden, though some would moan that Murryfield is a rugby stadium.
Just for comparison, between the UK and Turkey bids
So we have one additional City, compared to Turkey's eight.
It takes about 12-hours to get from Istanbul to Gaziantep | Trabzon by road... 1hr 35mins by air London to Beflast by road takes between 9-10 hours (including the Ferry)... Just over an hour by air
The Villa Park capacity includes the new North Stand. I wonder if St James Park will be expanded before then, with all the Saudi money.
Hampden stands our amongst the other grounds, and not in a good way,
Hampden is a terrible ground, Ibrox, Celtic Park or even Murrayfield would have made much better venues.
Would have to have both Celtic Park and Ibrox or neither (would cause uproar up there if they chose one against the other), agree Murryfield would be better the Hampden, though some would moan that Murryfield is a rugby stadium.
The rugby posts at Murryfield would have suited Kane’s penalty kick 🤓
The Villa Park capacity includes the new North Stand. I wonder if St James Park will be expanded before then, with all the Saudi money.
Hampden stands our amongst the other grounds, and not in a good way,
Hampden is a terrible ground, Ibrox, Celtic Park or even Murrayfield would have made much better venues.
Would have to have both Celtic Park and Ibrox or neither (would cause uproar up there if they chose one against the other), agree Murryfield would be better the Hampden, though some would moan that Murryfield is a rugby stadium.
I really don’t think there would be “uproar” if one of the Old Firm stadiums were selected. I’m incredibly biased but I would choose Ibrox, but Celtic Park is larger.
The problem with Murrayfield isn’t so much that it’s a rugby stadium (it’s been used for football numerous times - it’s not like Twickenham) it’s more that it’s in Edinburgh. Glasgow is the birthplace and home of international football, would feel weird to have games in Scotland but none played there.
The Villa Park capacity includes the new North Stand. I wonder if St James Park will be expanded before then, with all the Saudi money.
Hampden stands our amongst the other grounds, and not in a good way,
Hampden is a terrible ground, Ibrox, Celtic Park or even Murrayfield would have made much better venues.
Would have to have both Celtic Park and Ibrox or neither (would cause uproar up there if they chose one against the other), agree Murryfield would be better the Hampden, though some would moan that Murryfield is a rugby stadium.
I really don’t think there would be “uproar” if one of the Old Firm stadiums were selected. I’m incredibly biased but I would choose Ibrox, but Celtic Park is larger.
The problem with Murrayfield isn’t so much that it’s a rugby stadium (it’s been used for football numerous times - it’s not like Twickenham) it’s more that it’s in Edinburgh. Glasgow is the birthplace and home of international football, would feel weird to have games in Scotland but none played there.
The Villa Park capacity includes the new North Stand. I wonder if St James Park will be expanded before then, with all the Saudi money.
Hampden stands our amongst the other grounds, and not in a good way,
Hampden is a terrible ground, Ibrox, Celtic Park or even Murrayfield would have made much better venues.
Would have to have both Celtic Park and Ibrox or neither (would cause uproar up there if they chose one against the other), agree Murryfield would be better the Hampden, though some would moan that Murryfield is a rugby stadium.
I really don’t think there would be “uproar” if one of the Old Firm stadiums were selected. I’m incredibly biased but I would choose Ibrox, but Celtic Park is larger.
The problem with Murrayfield isn’t so much that it’s a rugby stadium (it’s been used for football numerous times - it’s not like Twickenham) it’s more that it’s in Edinburgh. Glasgow is the birthplace and home of international football, would feel weird to have games in Scotland but none played there.
I see on the news last night that they’re already referring to The Aviva Stadium as The Dublin Arena. Fits in with FIFA/UEFA not allowing sponsor names, which I read recently Daniel Levy was arguing about for Spurs stadium (even though he hasn’t actually sold those naming rights yet).
I think that the Republic of Ireland ought not to be involved in this tournament. Better to observe from afar than be a box ticker for an English dominated event. If there were three venues in the Republic, especially a new build or expansion in either Limerick or Galway I would change my mind, otherwise I would prefer to leave it to the tokenism afforded Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is simply my personal opinion.
I know someone who has been involved in some capacity with the bid, and although we clearly have the better facilities and infrastructure to hold the event, the person I know believes that Turkey are more likely to win it for 2 reasons. Firstly, we are supposedly asking for too much money to host the tournament and secondly, our FA isn't liked very much by the international committees that agree the bids.
Would love it to be held here though but can see Turkey getting it
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🤷🏻♂️😉😂
Old Trafford is surprising but the others make sense.
1. Wembley Stadium (London) (capacity 90,652)
2. Principality Stadium (Cardiff) (73,952)
3. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London) (62,322)
4. Etihad Stadium (Manchester) (61,000)
5. Everton Stadium (Liverpool) (52,679)
6. St James' Park (Newcastle) (52,305)
7. Villa Park (Birmingham) (52,190)
8. Hampden Park (Glasgow) (52,032)
9. Aviva Stadium (Dublin) (51,711)
10. Casement Park (Belfast) (34,500)
Same for Everton's new ground I guess, Anfield is creaking a bit.
If you'd have said 10 years ago though that we'd have a bid and not include Old Trafford, Anfield or the Emirates it would have sounded crazy.
Hampden stands our amongst the other grounds, and not in a good way,
Also for Old Trafford, it hasn't been left out because it's old and falling apart, it's been left out because they're planning redevelopment work and can't confirm the stadium will be ready and available.
So we have one additional City, compared to Turkey's eight.
It takes about 12-hours to get from Istanbul to Gaziantep | Trabzon by road... 1hr 35mins by air
London to Beflast by road takes between 9-10 hours (including the Ferry)... Just over an hour by air
Turkey's Stadiums are as follows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atatürk_Olympic_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nef_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Şükrü_Saracoğlu_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankara_19_Mayıs_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursa_Metropolitan_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konya_Metropolitan_Municipality_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Şenol_Güneş_Sports_Complex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antalya_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Eskişehir_Stadium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaziantep_Stadium
I wonder if we'll see the Valley used as training facilities for one of the teams.
Better to observe from afar than be a box ticker for an English dominated event.
If there were three venues in the Republic, especially a new build or expansion in either Limerick or Galway I would change my mind, otherwise I would prefer to leave it to the tokenism afforded Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This is simply my personal opinion.
Would love it to be held here though but can see Turkey getting it