if we had made a bid for euro 2020 do you think they'd have gone with us or this idea

i think they wanted to do this for a long time tbh and not any country could convince them to change their mind.

But i do think its ridiculous thinking we wouldnt be located in a particular region. uefa would never purposely force people to travel from one side of europe to another

Agreed Henriks

There's no way UEFA would risk a PR disaster by including Kazahkstan and Israel in the first attempt to do this.

They'll probably start safe and if it's a success they'll add more distant European countries.

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I am guessing, that England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland will represent more than half of the countries to have games.

I think the point of the exercise is to give to countries that couldn't host it on their own.

I guess alot of it will be how they do the draw

Host nations get to play 2 group games at home which is a bit of a disadvantage if you don't happen to be a host

If you have a visa for Russia Boris, you have one for Kaliningrad. The problem is getting there. You have to fly to Lithuania or Poland then get a bus or something in.

The last European tournament generated record money for UEFA, it is better to utilise ready made stadiums like Wembley and the Stade de France in cities capable of hosting major events, than chucking their money at a poorer Eastern European nation and getting them to build these massive stadiums for three weeks and then never use them again!

Money talks, Kazakhstan is very wealthy. If FIFA can give a World Cup to Qatar then I'm sure the Kazakhs could 'persude' Platini to stage a few games there in the Euros.

TOOR, yes but you have to buy a muliple-entry visa which costs even more and get a seperate 'Letter of Recommendation' for the Kaliningrad bit.

Sorry DJ I thought you were talking about the scale of Russia and using Kaliningrad as the furthest point west...which it is but in relevance to the scale of Russia, is misleading.

England vs Scotland in Vladivostock will be the game to watch

I'm sure you wouldnt need a letter of recommendation if there was a tournament being held there. There would be a compromise made between Russia and UEFA.

Why shouldnt Eastern European countries get it? Most of them have better teams than Scotland and as passionate fans as the Scottish, Henrik?

TooR
Was just illustrating the vast area the 2018 World Cup covers, which will probably be greater than the 2020 Euros. Russia goes a lot further East than the city I named, but the actual area of the 2018 tournament is still vast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_stadiums_by_capacity

A list of the stadiums around Europe at their capacity.

Under the rules that UEFA have currently stated, only Ukraine and Greece in eastern Europe can host a quarter final match (Turkey will get the final should they fail to get the olympics)

Poland, Georgia, Armenia, pass by having a stadium over 50,000 and only two cities are allowed in with a capacity of as little as 30,000, lets say Kazakhstan and Belarus, so it is possible to have games in Eastern Europe, not traveling much at all up until the quarters, before moving into Western Europe or even Turkey (less traveling) for the final matches.

That's the thing about giving a country a competition. They can afford to build a couple of new stadiums, thus improving sport in their country and still have money left over. However with this multi-city proposal it would have to be ready made stadiums.

I'm not Scottish.

I'm not saying they shouldn't get it but UEFA would be more reluctant to give Kazakhstan a city than Germany, not only economically, but it'd also be a PR disaster.

RB

but do the countries have to have the stadia in place at the time of bidding or can they bid with the promise of building new stadia or increasing capacity at existing stadia in time for 2020

TooR, I went to Russia to watch England in 2007(?) and wanted to visit Kaliningrad on the way back. It's possible but the visas would have been about £160 and the dikking about meant it wasn't really worth it for just a couple of days.

I heard the prices of things in Kaliningrad are so cheap, even the Poles and Lithuanians laugh about it.

but do the countries have to have the stadia in place at the time of bidding or can they bid with the promise of building new stadia or increasing capacity at existing stadia in time for 2020
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Don't need to be ready at the time of bidding.

redmacca

They probably would be able to promise their new stadia to be built in time, qatar got the WC all by proposed stadiums pretty much, that was more of if the tournament was held in 2014, it could possibly be done.

What would be interesting is to alternate it every four years, so eastern Europe is the predominant use of stadiums in 2020, while in 2024, western Europe gets all of the viewing, cutting travel time.

They don't need to be ready but can the afford to build a stadium for possibly just one match?

if your nation qualifies for the tournament, and your stadium has already been picked, you have 2 of your 3 home games in that home stadium.

But for some stadiums it will only require an expansion on their stadium anyway, if Hungary's national stadium is increased by 1,000 they qualify for example

USA had the World Cup in 94' and Russia are getting it in 2018, is the travelling really all that different?
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The big difference is in the USA there is a first class network of airports around the country, in Russia the air industry is to say the least unreliable, both in timings & safety.

As for spreading this around Europe, it is a logistics nightmare as very few countries for instance will have flights to remote regions & if they do they will be infrequent.

Another great idea from a Committee, asked to create a racehorse & they come up with a warthog!!