Scots and Irish announce joint bid

Scotland and Ireland will host one semi-final each

The Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland have confirmed they will make an official joint bid to host Euro 2008.

Their decision was announced by SFA chief executive David Taylor, who added that Uefa would be informed of the decision by Thursday afternoon.

The basis of the bid is that Scotland, who would provide six of the required eight stadia, would host the opening match, three group stages, three quarter finals, one semi-final and the final.

Ireland would host one group stage, one quarter-final and one semi-final.

I don't particularly want to be the front-runner, but we're up there with them

John Henderson
Euro 2008 project leader

A letter sent to Uefa stated that the proposal had been thoroughly researched and had won the backing of the countries' respective governments.

The man leading the Scottish end of the bid says he believes the joint bid with Ireland has an excellent chance of success.

But John Henderson admitted that their bid was not the strongest of the contenders to host the prestigious event.

"I think the Austrian-Swiss bid is strong, I think the Scandinavian bid is strong," he told BBC Scotland.

"I don't particularly want to be the front-runner, but we're up there with them."

The decision to mount a bid comes after an 11th-hour decision by Ireland's politicians to sanction such a bid.

Final decision

Ireland will provide two of the eight stadia required to host the tournament.

Henderson denied that the Irish backing was half-hearted and insisted the strength of the bid had not been affected by the delay in the Irish decision.

The SFA's chief executive David Taylor said he was delighted that the bid was given the go-ahead.

Austria and Switzerland have confirmed that they will put together a joint bid with each country hosting games at four stadiums.

Other candidates to host the championship are Bosnia and Croatia (joint bid), Greece and Turkey (joint bid), a four-way bid from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway and a solo bid by Hungary.

Interested countries must give Uefa a complete candidature dossier by the end of May 2002.

The decision on which bid has been successful will be taken by Uefa's executive committee in December 2002.