UEFA logo. Photo: AFP
According to an evaluation report by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, it would be “a risk” to grant the Euro 2024 hosting rights to Turkey.
Ahead of the federation’s decision on the next host of the international tournament, scheduled for Thursday, a report assessing the two bids from Turkey and Germany was issued on Friday.
The report pointed to Turkey’s poor record on human rights in recent years, along with the country’s “limited hotel capacity”, branding them as “matters of concern”.
Mentioning Turkey’s plans to destroy and rebuild Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, a venue with a capacity of over 92 thousand people, before the tournament, and renovation of transport links infrastructure, the evaluation said:
“The scale of works to be undertaken in the given time frame constitutes a risk, especially in combination with the dependence on a few airports for international and domestic travel.”
It was also noted that Turkey’s bid is based on the promotion of “multiculturalism”, with the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) taking advantage of ‘its location between three continents.’
Germany’s campaign, on the other hand, focused on “creating a bridge between elite and grassroots football”, the UEFA report said.
It was highlighted that as opposed to Turkey, none of the stadia proposed by Germany’s Football Federation (DFB) requires renovation. The country is among the 12 nations to host games at Euro 2020.
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