Croke Park excluded from final bid for Ireland and UK to host Euro 2028

The joint Ireland and United Kingdom bid to host Euro 2028 has been submitted to UEFA with Croke Park excluded from the final proposal.

The Aviva Stadium and a redeveloped Casement Park have made the final list of 10 stadiums.

Wembley Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Etihad Stadium, St James’ Park, the new Everton Stadium in Liverpool and an expanded Villa Park would feature in England.

Wales would be represented with the Millennium Stadium, and Scotland by Hampden Park.

The GAA did grant permission for Croke Park and Casement Park to be used, but only the yet to be redeveloped Belfast stadium has been included.

FAI CEO Jonathan Hill said that Aviva Stadium was selected over Croke Park due to a limit of one stadium per city rule, apart from London.

“In all major bid processes, you start with a shortlist of stadia, and this is whittled down to a final agreed list in order to give the bid the best chance of success and reflects the streamlined nature of the tournament,” he said.

“This bid started with 14 Stadia, and we now have our agreed final 10 which have been submitted.

“The bid, with the exemption of London, is based on a ‘one city, one stadia’ principle and together we believe the list offers an array of superb stadia from across the UK and Ireland,” said Hill, who added the tournament would be worth approximately €240m to the Irish economy.

If awarded, almost three million tickets will be made available, more than any previous European Championship.

A decision is expected to be made by UEFA in September or October with Turkey the only other nation making a bid.