A day after the UEFA deadline to express interest in bidding for Euro 2020, the European Football Association has announced that all other member nations can still tender bids over the next few months. That’s likely further good news for Istanbul 2020 Olympic bid organizers who until yesterday believed that their bid for the Olympic Games could be abruptly cut short if Turkey was awarded the Euro 2020 by default.
Instead, reports claim that additional interest came jointly from Scotland, Wales and Ireland and from Geogia. UEFA has yet to acknowledge who the interested member nations are.
“Some national associations have expressed their interest in the bidding process for the organisation of the UEFA European Football Championship in 2020,” An UEFA spokesperson said in a statement.
“Consequently, and in accordance with the decision of its Executive Committee and as presented to the UEFA Congress, UEFA will now launch a formal process which will allow any of its 53 member associations to submit their candidature, irrespective of whether or not they declared a preliminary interest in hosting the 24-team competition.”
The exact timeline for the 18-month bid process will be “developed in the coming weeks”.
More credible bids mean that Turkey’s chances of winning the Championships are less likely; and for the Olympic bid team that means there will be more focus on the Olympic bid – a competition that will be determined in September, 2013 – well ahead of the Euro 2020 vote.
Still, Istanbul must first qualify for the short list that will be determined by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Committee in Quebec, Canada next week.
If successful, the bid will need to establish a dialogue that will help convince the IOC that Turkey’s true national focus is the Olympic Games – a key component of any successful Olympic bid.
