Wembley wins Final and semi-finals; Germany drop bid to concentrate on Euro 2024; Glasgow and Dublin to host group games and knockout game
Wembley Stadium has been announced as the venue for the Final and both semi-finals of the 2020 European Championship.
Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, and Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland will also host last 16 matches and three group games.
Bid rivals Germany are now strongly tipped to win the right to host the 2024 finals, which will revert to a more traditional one country host nation, after they withdrew from the bidding just before the UEFA vote.
FA Chairman Greg Dyke said: “This bidding process was open to more than 50 Uefa countries so for Wembley to be recognised in this way is testament to a lot of hard work behind the scenes.”
Dyke confirmed that discussions had been held between the FA and their German counterparts but denied that a deal had been put in place for the English FA to back the German bid for Euro 2024.
The 2020 Championships will be unique in the history of the finals in being hosted in 13 cities across Europe and London won the right to host the showpiece final games.
England manager Roy Hodgson said that the opportunity to play a European final at Wembley in six years would be a major spur to his young players.
He said: “For the young team that is emerging, many of those players will be at their best football years in 2020.”
The one-off format change is in celebration of 60 years of the European Championships which first started in 1960.
Michel Platini, president of UEFA, said:
“London had the best bid. Wembley is a marvellous stadium and we know it well because we have staged two recent UEFA Champions League Finals there.
“There will be a week of football in a great capital – London. I know the festive aspect there, and how they welcome people.
“I hope that London will be equal to the task, so that all those who love football will spend a magnificent week there, and see three exceptional matches in a very fine stadium.”
Platini added: “EURO 2020 is an idea that I put in place some years ago. I wanted this competition to take place throughout Europe, and you saw today that it will go from east to west.”