UEFA agreed Thursday on the bidding requirements and regulations for the 2020 European Football Championship, which for the first time will be hosted by 13 different cities, to be selected in September 2014.
"What has been decided is that on April 26 the bid regulations and the bid requirements will be officially published and this will mark the launch of the bidding phase," UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told a press conference following a meeting of European football's governing body in Sofia.
The candidates' dossiers will have to be submitted by April 25, 2014. UEFA will then evaluate the bids between May and August and pick the 13 host cities in September 2014, he added.
UEFA had already stipulated there would be a maximum of one venue per country with the two semi-finals and the final to be all held at one stadium.
The remaining 12 winning bids will each host three group matches as well as one game from the round of 16 or the quarter-finals.
Each national association will be entitled to present two bids -- one for hosting the regular matches and one for hosting the semi-finals and the final, UEFA said in a statement Thursday.
The associations will have a choice whether to present the same city or two different cities for the two bids, it added.
Projected stadiums can be admitted in the bidding process, provided that any new construction starts by 2016.
Previous European championships have always been held in one country or jointly hosted by two neighbours -- such as Austria and Switzerland in 2008 or Poland and Ukraine in 2012.
The 13-city idea would be a one-off however, UEFA President Michel Platini insisted Thursday.
Source: AFP
