Boost for Hampden's Euro 2028 hosting hopes as Turkey and Italy merge 2032 bid

Scotland’s chances of hosting games during the UEFA European Championships in 2028 have improved significantly after Turkey and Italy merged their bids for the 2032 finals.

The Scottish FA has submitted a joint bid with the rest of the UK and Ireland to co-host Euro 2028, with Hampden Park put forward as the chosen venue.

The joint bid was competing with Turkey to host the 2028 finals but the Turkish Football Federation has confirmed that it will merge its bid for the 2032 Euros with Italy. That combined bid has no rivals and is likely to be approved when UEFA make their decisions on hosts in October.

While Turkey don’t appear to have withdrawn their solo bid for the 2028 finals yet, their move to co-host four years later makes it highly unlikely they would have success in staging successive tournaments.

UEFA said in a statement: “UEFA confirms that it has received today a request from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) to merge their individual bids into one joint bid to host UEFA EURO 2032.

“UEFA will now work with FIGC and TFF to ensure that the documentation to be submitted for their joint bid is compliant with the bidding requirements.”

If the UK bid is successful then If successful then Hampden Park in Glasgow will host games at the flagship tournament alongside stadiums in Cardiff, Dublin, Belfast, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and London.

When the final bid dossier was submitted in April, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell revealed Hampden will have an upgrade if the is successful.

However, he added that the exact nature of the improvements was still to be decided.

Maxwell said in an SFA video: “We’re always looking to improve the stadium and that happens alongside Euro 2028.

“Obviously as the stadium owner now, we want to make sure the supporter experience is as good as it can be.

“There will be some additions and improvements that are made as part of the Euro 28 bid and hopefully when we’re successful, we will work out exactly what those will look like.”