![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/pub\/2023\/06\/turkey-MC.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTurkey is up against the joint U.K.-Ireland bid to host Euro 2028 and is in a Euro 2032 duel with Italy. The 2032 edition is the likely target with a widespread belief 2028 is going to the British and Irish who switched from trying to be UEFA\u2019s preferred candidate in the 2030 World Cup race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voters for hosting the 24-team Euros tournaments will be members of the 20-strong UEFA executive committee who also sat with Erdo\u011fan in the VIP section to see Manchester City beat Inter Milan on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe absolutely would like to win the bid because we see that our country is always capable of organizing such big-scale events successfully,\u201d Turkey Football Federation president Mehmet B\u00fcy\u00fckek\u015fi told The Associated Press in Istanbul ahead of the final. That was before fans complained on social media about logistical problems getting to and from Atat\u00fcrk Olympic Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey has tried to persuade UEFA of its hosting potential for so long that Erdo\u011fan was not yet in national office when in 2002 the first candidacy failed. That was a joint bid with Greece for Euro 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After 20 years of Erdo\u011fan as Turkish prime minister then president since 2014, including several photo opportunities of him kicking a soccer ball, the construction project he has overseen would be key to any vote win at UEFA\u2019s Swiss headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe believe that Turkey\u2019s 85 million population, the stadiums built over the last years and the investments on infrastructure are essential,\u201d B\u00fcy\u00fckek\u015fi said in translated comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Istanbul Airport opened in 2018 and is ranked top-10 globally on some metrics. Air travel would be needed for teams and fans when one host city, Trabzon, is more than 1,000 kilometers (650 miles) east of Istanbul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Atat\u00fcrk Olympic Stadium that was renovated in recent years to hold close to 72,000 spectators is set for further upgrades. The homes of storied Istanbul clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahce are also in the bid plan of 10 mostly state-owned stadiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey\u2019s rival bids have some stadiums \u201calmost 50 years old or even 100. We already have them in a brand-new style,\u201d B\u00fcy\u00fckek\u015fi said. \u201cA European Championship in Turkey can add great value to us, and we can contribute to European football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey\u2019s place in Europe was a factor in the campaign that led to its tightest and most frustrating loss from UEFA \u2014 the 7-6 vote won by France to host Euro 2016. Italy had been eliminated in an earlier round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both state presidents in 2010 came to that vote in Geneva, Abdullah G\u00fcl and Nicolas Sarkozy, who while in office strongly opposed the idea of Turkish applying to join the European Union. Before the voting ceremony, Sarkozy was personally introduced to voters by UEFA\u2019s then-leader, France soccer great Michel Platini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe lost the Euro 2016 bid by just one vote,\u201d said B\u00fcy\u00fckek\u015fi, who was elected to lead the TFF last year. \u201cThat was kind of upsetting for us, but as we came so close to getting it we want to keep on trying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey seemed sure to get Euro 2020 with public support from Platini, who met with Erdo\u011fan in 2012. The insistence from Turkey also to pursue at the same time a 2020 Olympics bid, which ultimately failed, pushed UEFA to opt for a multi-nation tournament hosted across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkey then turned down staging the Euro 2020 semifinals and final, which England took instead for a tournament first postponed then held during a pandemic with restricted crowds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Turkey tried for Euro 2024, Germany\u2019s bid was just too strong on soccer and financial grounds for UEFA to refuse. The vote five years ago was 12-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This run of losses, near-misses and sports politics missteps came after Turkey reached semifinals at Euro 2008 and the 2002 World Cup. As a soccer nation, it feels hosting a major tournament is due.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have reached a certain level but for some time we have not gone beyond that,\u201d Hamit Alt\u0131ntop, a midfielder in the 2008 team now working for the federation, told the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid player suggested hosting will help a next generation of players to \u201cincrease their belief, faith and self-confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know how passionate they are about football,\u201d Alt\u0131ntop said of Turkey\u2019s players and fans, \u201cand they deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Turkey\u2019s quest to host the men\u2019s European Championship is among the great unfulfilled goals in world soccer. Having newly re-elected state President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan sit next to UEFA leader Aleksander \u010ceferin at the Champions League final in Istanbul on Saturday should only help before Turkey\u2019s next two tournament bids are put to votes on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":35119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9990,5754,10211,1172,5268,10387,1911,9331,1258,8660,2419,11333,6621,9505,1195,9026,5247,5575,578,66,5993,10598,12234,12773,8995,572,6449,5539,1392,3874,5721,10634,11252,501,12309,2411,9158,6657,2501,11385,1707,11973,5485,13256,5424,9374,3805,3174,6200,196,10416,5349,8840,9713,6584,2570,3151,7766,7231,6348,999,3954,36,5248,594],"class_list":["post-35116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-air-travel","tag-airport","tag-aleksander-ceferin","tag-bayern-munich","tag-british","tag-campaign","tag-champions-league","tag-city","tag-england","tag-essential","tag-euro","tag-euro-2024","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-fans","tag-football","tag-france","tag-galatasaray","tag-germany","tag-greece","tag-homes","tag-host","tag-increase","tag-infrastructure","tag-inter-milan","tag-ireland","tag-istanbul","tag-italy","tag-lead","tag-losses","tag-lost","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-city","tag-men","tag-michel-platini","tag-milan","tag-munich","tag-nicolas-sarkozy","tag-olympic","tag-olympics","tag-one","tag-pandemic","tag-players","tag-politics","tag-population","tag-president","tag-prime-minister","tag-race","tag-real-madrid","tag-soccer","tag-social-media","tag-strong","tag-swiss","tag-travel","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan","tag-uefa","tag-union","tag-us","tag-vip","tag-will","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/pub\/2023\/06\/turkey-MC2.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n