Ireland’s Euro 2020 aspirations to be raised

The prospect of Ireland hosting games at a radically reshaped Euro 2020 will be raised tonight in discussions between FAI chief executive John Delaney and Uefa President Michel Platini.

Platini will be in Dublin to present a special fans’ award at tonight’s friendly against Greece to the family of James Nolan, the 21-year-old Irish supporter who tragically lost his life in Poland during the European Championship finals this summer.

The Uefa president’s plans for a radically reshaped, multi-host Euro finals in 2020 come in the wake of this year’s formal expression of interest in co-hosting the tournament by Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

It’s also believed that the FAI and Uefa bosses will discuss the chances of Ireland hosting the European Super Cup — the play-off game between the Champions League and Europa League winners — at the Aviva Stadium in the near future.

After 15 consecutive Super Cups being played at the Stade Louis II in Monaco between 1998 and 2012, from 2013 onwards the Super Cup will be played at various stadiums, starting with the Eden Stadium in Prague next year.

European soccer’s governing body is likely to proceed with a proposal for a Euro 2020 tournament hosted by half a dozen countries and not the usual one or two, according to German Uefa executive committee member, Theo Zwanziger.

Zwanziger, who was formerly head of the German Football Association (DFB), said the plan, still to be ratified by the Uefa executive committee, envisaged 12 countries hosting the expanded tournament which will feature 24 teams, up from the current 16.

“Michel Platini has told me his plan in a personal discussion,” Zwanziger said. “But it still needs to be ratified by the executive committee.”

According to Zwanziger the plan foresees 12 countries hosting matches, with the countries chosen as seeded nations based on their Uefa ranking at the time and whether they have qualified for the competition. Platini said last month he would press ahead with the idea of staging Euro 2020 across the continent only if member associations were in favour of the plan.

The Frenchman said Uefa was waiting for feedback on its proposal, first announced at the end of Euro 2012, and it would be a one-off.

“If the idea is appealing to them we will enter into details to see how we can organise a Euro in several European cities but only in 2020,” Platini said after a meeting of Uefa’s executive committee last month.

Platini’s idea of having matches in a dozen countries with the final stages in one venue will be discussed by the executive board in December, with a decision made early next year.

Scotland, Wales and Ireland have publicly declared their interest in staging the finals. Turkey have also expressed a wish to stage the tournament on a conventional, single-country basis but their bid will be dropped if Istanbul is awarded the Olympics in the same year.