Aviva Stadium and Croke Park will host seven Euro 2028 games if bid approved

That bid will state that the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park would potentially share seven games if the bid is successful, but would not include other smaller stadia such as the RDS, Thomond Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Semple Stadium. Picture: Conor Ó Mearáin / Collins

The Aviva Stadium and Croke Park will host seven games between them at the Euro 2028 championships should a bid to be approved by Cabinet on Tuesday prove successful.

As many as 120,000 fans are expected to travel to Ireland for the tournament, which could be worth up to €250m to the economy, estimates indicate.

Sports Ministers Catherine Martin and Jack Chambers will seek Cabinet approval to submit a formal joint bid to host Euro 2028 along with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The two ministers will ask Cabinet to approve a letter of support to the FAI to allow it to submit a preliminary bid to jointly host the tournament with the other football associations.

A preliminary business case which contains a detailed cost-benefit analysis has been carried out and the ministers will recommend to Cabinet that Ireland supports the submission of a bid, senior Government sources have said.

Unlike other major sporting events, there is no hosting fee, but upgrades to venues, policing and fan zones would have to be paid for by the host nations.

Once approved by Cabinet, the joint bid by Ireland and the UK, along with the five football associations, must be submitted before Uefa’s Wednesday deadline.

The preliminary bid to be submitted this week will comprise a detailed plan outlining how the five host nations would deliver on Uefa’s hosting requirements for Euro 2028.

A final bid dossier must then be submitted in April with a decision on who will host the tournament expected from Uefa in September.

That bid will state that the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park would potentially share seven games if the bid is successful, but would not include other smaller stadia such as the RDS, Thomond Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Semple Stadium.

A big advantage from an Irish perspective is that the Aviva had been due to host games for Euro 2020 and will host the 2024 Europa League Final, so any required upgrading costs would be low.

Croke Park would require greater investment, the Cabinet memorandum states.

Uefa previously announced that Euro 28 will consist of 24 teams, not 32 as had been considered at one point.

On the economic benefits, a report conducted following the Euro 2016 event in France showed a total of 613,000 visitors had come to France for the event, spending an average of €154 per day. The report estimated the economic impact of hosting the tournament for France at €1.22bn.
It is understood Mr Chambers met remotely with representatives from England, Scotland, Wales and the North last week to discuss the bid.

Sources have said the bid is believed to have a strong change of success, with Turkey the only other rival to host football’s second biggest tournament.

The memo to be brought before Cabinet will outline a range of economic and social benefits to co-hosting the tournament.

Among the benefits to be outlined to Cabinet include increased participation in sports, tourism boosts, with Ireland placed on the world stage to a new demographic, and developing relations north-south and east-west.