European Championships Celtic BID
Wales told to bid for Euro finals
Wales have never qualified for the European Championships
Uefa president Lennart Johansson says Wales should enter a joint bid with Scotland and Ireland to host the European Championships.
"I think it's a good idea," said Johansson. "They have the same culture, understand each other and travelling is easy between countries. So why not?"
Johansson also believes Cardiff's Millennium Stadium could soon host one of Uefa's major showpiece cup finals.
"I'm sure it will be considered to host a final," Johansson told BBC Sport.
Last year, the Football Association of Wales decided to ditch a bid to host a Uefa Champions League or Uefa Cup final because of problems meeting strict contractual obligations.
They concluded that the Millennium Stadium's city centre location means there is not have enough surrounding space to accommodate such things as the hospitality tented village.
"That was a big disappointment," FAW secretary general David Collins told BBC Wales Sport.
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"But very few stadia in Europe can generate that sort of facility, so maybe Uefa will relax their requirement in the future, particularly for the Uefa Cup final.
"If so, then we would certainly look into that again, especially after this year with the FA Cup, the Community Shield and Championship play-offs moving back to Wembley."
Scotland and Ireland failed in a joint bid to host the 2008 European Championships, which were eventually awarded to Austria and Switzerland.
Joint bids from two countries are becoming ever more popular and successful - there are two such bids in the shortlist for the 2012 European Championships.
A Nordic bid from four countries failed to win the right to host Euro 2008, but Johansson said Uefa would not object in principle to a bid from three nations.
"The Nordic countries tried with four, but that was too much. Next time they will have three," Johansson told BBC Wales Sport.
If we could bring four stadia up to 30,000 seats... we could then make a joint bid
FAW's David Collins
"We are not going to the same places all the time so there are good opportunities. That gives people hope, and also the opportunity to work together in partnership with other countries."
Wales' biggest hurdle to overcome to stage the 16-team tournament would be the shortage of suitable stadiums.
All bids must have eight stadiums with at least 30,000 seats. The Millennium Stadium is currently the only such venue in Wales.
That could change with the planned new stadium for Cardiff City, but Collins says the FAW would have to look into the possibility of developing Swansea's Liberty Stadium or Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.
Collins also revealed the FAW's preferred option would be to enter a joint bid with just Scotland to host the European Championships.
"We would seriously consider bidding," Collins said. "We seriously considered that with Scotland and the Republic of Ireland; unfortunately they decided to go on their own.
"But we believe it makes more sense to have the tournament within the island of the United Kingdom itself.
"So if we could bring four stadia up to 30,000 seats, together with Scotland we would certainly have eight stadia so we could then make a joint bid."
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ls/4802224.stm
Lads,
this is starting to arouse interest once again, UEFA are practically begging us to put in a bid for these championships, and they have no problem with 3 countries putting in a bid,
We would have
Millenium Stadium
Croke Park
Lansdowne Road
Murrayfield
Hampden
Ibrox
Parkhead
Swansea Liberty Stadium.
There you have, we better not miss out this chance and allow Wales and Scotland to host it together or else we can never get these tournaments again!!
