Football: UEFA for multi-country Euro 2020

"The plan still to be ratified by the UEFA executive committee," says Zwanziger.

BERLIN: European soccer’s governing body UEFA is going ahead with a proposal for a Euro 2020 tournament hosted by half a dozen countries and not the usual one or two, said Germany’s UEFA executive committee member Theo Zwanziger yesterday. Zwanziger, who was formerly head of the German Football Association (DFB), said the plan, still to be ratified by the UEFA executive committee, envisaged 12 countries hosting the expanded tournament which will feature 24 teams, up from the current 16. “Michel Platini has told me his plan for the Euros in 2020 in a personal discussion,” Zwanziger told Bild newspaper. “But it still needs to be ratified by the executive committee of the tournament.” According to Zwanziger, the plan foresees 12 countries hosting matches, with the countries chosen as seeded nations based on their UEFA ranking at the time and whether they have qualified for the competition.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2012.