UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has received declarations of interest in hosting the 2022-23 Nations League Finals from the national associations of Wales, Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands.
The four countries all made official approaches to UEFA before its deadline of April 13, with the bidding process proper to begin now. The deadline to submit dossiers for that is October 5.
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The next edition of the four-side national teams mini-tournament, which comprises two semi-finals, a third-place playoff, and the final itself, will take place from June 14 to 18.
UEFA has said it will appoint a host in January next year.
Of those four countries, the Netherlands put on four matches from the 2020 men’s European Championships, Poland hosted the Euros alongside Ukraine in 2012, while Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosted the 2000 edition of the same tournament.
Wales has never hosted a senior UEFA national team event, although Cardiff did put on the final of the clubs’ Champions League competition in 2017, and the country is also set to be included in a joint UK and Ireland bid for the 2028 Euros.
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By GlobalDataThe 2020-21 Nations League Finals took place in October last year (delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic), and were held in Italy. France ran out the overall winners.
The finals of the inaugural edition of the Nations League, in 2018-19, were hosted – and won – by Portugal.
UEFA is also currently midway through the allocation process for the 2028 Euros, which look set to be held across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. This bid is currently considered the favorite, with other declarations of interest before the deadline last month coming only from Turkey (at the last minute) and Russia.
Since Russian teams are currently banned from national and club competitions by UEFA, however, that latter option is unlikely to secure any votes with UEFA’s member associations.
Indeed, UEFA said last month that if Russia submitted a formal bid for the Euros in six years’ time, the country would likely face further soccer-based sanctions.
The governing body will not announce the host nation/s for the 2028 Euros until September 2023. If Turkey had not submitted its bid, the event would likely be allocated to the UK and Ireland before that point.
The hosts for Euro 2032 will also be announced next September.
