Wembley all set to host Euro 2020 final and semi-finals

Germany withdraws Munich’s bid for final just before vote in order not to harm chances of hosting Euro 2024 tournament, leaving field clear for London.

A general view of Wembley Stadium. Julian Finney / Getty Images

England won its bid to host the Euro 2020 final and semi-finals at Wembley eventually unchallenged, but Scotland was grateful to the help of Alex Ferguson in getting Glasgow’s bid for group games across the line.

Germany withdrew Munich’s bid for the final just before the vote in order not to harm its chances of hosting the Euro 2024 tournament, leaving the field clear for London.

Hampden Park in Glasgow and Dublin’s Aviva Stadium will both stage three group games and a last-16 match, but there was bitter disappointment for the Welsh after Cardiff’s bid was beaten by a single ranking point by the Scots.

Both Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan and David Gill, the Manchester United director who is a Uefa member, believe former United manager Ferguson’s influence was key.

Regan said: “Alex Ferguson came in last week with a video in support of our bid and spoke passionately about it and I am sure that must have helped.

“We knew we had a strong bid. We focused on the fact this is the 60th anniversary and we focused on the history and heritage of football. We knew Michel Platini was a football man and that’s what we played strongest on and that’s why we used Alex Ferguson.”

Gill added: “He was a key factor in that whole thing. Wales had a very good bid as well.

“I don’t think it was the one factor but, clearly, it does help if you have someone like Alex promoting you. He’s a great advocate of football and Scottish football in particular.”

It will be the first time since Euro 96 that a major men’s football tournament has been held in England and national team manager Roy Hodgson said it would be “a great opportunity” for the players as England had benefited hugely when it had previously hosted the 1966 World Cup and Euro 96.

He said: “If we look back historically in ‘66 it went very well for us when we hosted a tournament and in 1996 I thought we were very unlucky to lose the semi-final on penalties and we could quite easily have gone on to win it with Terry Venables’ team.

“Young players of today have got to be thinking this is a great opportunity for us to not only be a part of a wonderful tournament but maybe there at the end when the prizes are being dished out.”

Uefa is staging the tournament in 13 cities across Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the first European Championships. The quarter-finals and three group matches will be held in Munich, Baku, Roma and St Petersburg. The other host cities, which will hold three group games and a last-16 game, are Copenhagen, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Budapest and Brussels.

The group game hosts will be guaranteed to play at least two games at home – if they qualify – but England’s group matches will be down to the luck of the draw, and they could even be drawn to play in Scotland. England will also have to qualify for the tournament.

Follow our sports coverage on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE