Euro 2028: UEFA make historic announcement set to impact Newcastle United’s St James’ Park as hosts confirmed

St James’ Park will host major international tournament football once again. After a meeting in Switzerland, UEFA have announced that Euro 2028 will be hosted in the UK and Ireland as their bid to host the tournament ran unopposed. 

Turkey had initially set out to challenge the bid, however, they withdrew their interest to instead focus on a joint-bid with Italy to host the 2032 iteration of the tournament. That means that, for the first time in over three decades, St James’ Park will play host to a match at the European Championships.

The last time a major international football tournament came to the north east was in 1996 when England hosted the Euros. St James’ Park played host to group games involving Romania, France and Bulgaria with Spain, the other side in that group, playing all of their games at Elland Road.

For Euro 2028, St James’ Park was picked alongside nine other stadiums to host games at the tournament with stadiums like Anfield and the Stadium of Light being named on a long list of potential host venues before being omitted from the final shortlist. Wembley Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Etihad Stadium, Villa Park and Everton’s new Bramley Moore Dock stadium have also been selected to host games in England.

The Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Casement Park in Belfast and Glasgow’s Hampden Park are the venues outside of England that will host games at Euro 2028.

Germany will host Euro 2024 next summer and England know a win against Italy next week will confirm their qualification for the tournament.