The EURO 2020 tournament will take place across 13 cities in Europe, and on Saturday UEFA announced that 19 member associations had submitted bids to host matches for the tournament.

To mark the 60th year anniversary of the EURO tournament, UEFA announced plans to have the tournament across 13 European cities as opposed to just one city.  UEFA stated that 32 member associations initially showed interest in hosting matches, but that list was whittled down to 19 associations, one of them being Macedonia.

This past Friday, 25 April, was the the last day that members associations could bid to host matches.  On Saturday, once the deadline expired, UEFA stated that 19 countries are in play to be among the 13 that will host matches. 

The 19 members associations are as follows (listed in alphabetical order): Azerbaijan (Baku), Belarus (Minsk), Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Denmark (Copenhagen), England (London), Germany (Munich), Hungary (Budapest), Ireland (Dublin), Israel (Jerusalem), Italy (Rome), Macedonia (Skopje), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Romania (Bucharest), Russia (Saint Petersburg), Scotland (Glasgow), Spain (Bilbao), Sweden (Stockholm), Wales (Cardiff).

The UEFA executive committee will decide later this year, on 19 Saturday, which 13 countries will be chosen to host EURO 2020.

Macedonia is viewed as a longshot to be chosen as more renovations will need to be completed at the main stadium in Skopje.  Furthermore, whenever you are talking about a big event (which the EURO tournament is), then other factors such as hotel accomodations and an airport’s ability to handle added visitors are also taken into consideration.

UEFA President Michel Platini made the following statement on UEFA.com, “By spreading the EURO across our continent, we will allow more fans from more nations to share in the excitement of hosting such a magical event. Member associations will also benefit greatly from this format, since more of them will be exposed to an elite tournament and have the opportunity to increase the development of football in their respective countries. I wish all the candidates the best of luck in this bidding process.”