A total of 32 countries have proposed 39 different cities to host matches at the 2020 European Championship, UEFA said on Friday.
The national associations representing more than half of the 54 UEFA countries have not yet specified if they want to stage the final.
“It’s an excellent piece of news and this shows that the idea is a good one,” UEFA president Michel Platini said.
UEFA will choose the 13 host cities for the 24-team tournament in September 2014. One city will host the final and both the semi-finals. Spain has put forward four cities, including Barcelona and Madrid.
Mr. Platini suggested the broad plan to reduce construction costs for host nations and travel expenses for fans. Poland has offered Chorzow, which was not selected for Euro 2012, and Warsaw. Ukraine has put forward Kiev and Donetsk.
Twelve cities will each host a package of three group matches and one knockout match.
Mr. Platini said he expected some countries to drop out of the race before the April deadline to submit a bid dossier. “We will have a few less options and fewer still between then and September,” he said.
UEFA has said the project should take its marquee tournament to countries which could not stage it alone.
Applicants include Armenia (Yerevan), Azerbaijan (Baku), Belarus (Minsk) and Israel (Jersualem).
DPA adds:
Turkey’s Istanbul is rated favourite to get the semi-final/final package after Turkey lost out to France for 2016 edition and recently failed to land the 2020 Olympics in Istanbul.
England is bidding with London, Germany with Munich, Italy with Rome and Milan, and Spain has four cities in the running at the moment: Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia.
