After the final of the Champions League, Turkey is looking to host the European Cup

Turkey’s desire to host the European Men’s Championship is one of the biggest unrealized goals in world football.

Having re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sitting next to UEFA leader Aleksander Eferi at Saturday’s Champions League final in Istanbul should only help until Turkey’s bid for the next two tournaments goes to a vote on October 10.

Turkey is opposing a joint bid by Great Britain and Ireland to host Euro 2028 and is dueling with Italy at Euro 2032. The 2032 edition is the likely target, with 2028 widely believed to go to Britain and Ireland, who are attempting to become UEFA’s preferred contenders for the 2030 World Cup.

The selectors to host the 24-team Euro tournaments will be members of the 20-strong UEFA Executive Committee, who sat with Erdogan in the VIP section to watch Manchester City beat Inter Milan on Saturday.

The president of the Turkish Football Federation, Mehmet Bykeki, said in an interview with the Associated Press in Istanbul before the final that we would like to win this tender, because we see that our country is always capable of successfully organizing such large-scale events. That was before fans took to social media to complain about logistical problems getting to and from the Atatürk Olympic Stadium.

Turkey has tried to convince UEFA of its hosting potential for so long that Erdogan was not yet in national office when the first bid failed in 2002. It was a joint bid with Greece for Euro 2008.

After Erdogan’s 20 years as Turkey’s prime minister and president since 2014, including several photo opportunities of him kicking a soccer ball, the construction project he oversees will be key to winning any vote at UEFA’s Swiss headquarters.

Turkey, which has a population of 85 million, believes that the stadiums built in recent years and investments in infrastructure are important, Bykeki said in the translated comments.

Istanbul Airport was opened in 2018 and according to some indicators, it is in the top 10 worldwide. With one host city, Trabzon, 1,000 kilometers (650 miles) east of Istanbul, air travel will be needed for teams and fans.

The Atatürk Olympic Stadium, which has been overhauled in recent years to hold around 72,000 spectators, is set to be further upgraded. The homes of Istanbul’s prestigious clubs “Galatasaray” and “Fenerbahce” are also in the proposal plan for 10 stadiums, most of which are owned by the state.

Turkey’s rival bids have some stadiums that are nearly 50 or even 100 years old. We already have them in a completely new style, Bykeki said. The European Championship to be held in Turkey can give us great value, and we can also contribute to European football.

Turkey’s place in Europe was a factor in their tightest and most frustrating loss to UEFA in the campaign, which France won to host EURO 2016.

In 2010, both provincial presidents came to a vote in Geneva, while Abdullah Gl and Nicolas Sarkozy strongly opposed Turkey’s application to join the European Union. Before the voting ceremony, Sarkozy was personally introduced to the voters by the then leader of UEFA, Michel Platini, a great player of French football.

Bykeki, who headed the TFF last year, said that we lost the Euro 2016 candidacy by only one vote. It was kind of disappointing for us, but we want to keep trying because we’re so close to getting it.

With the public support of Platini, who met Erdogan in 2012, it seemed that Turkey would definitely win Euro 2020. At the same time, Turkey’s insistence on its candidacy for the 2020 Olympics prompted UEFA to choose a multinational tournament. Hosted in Europe.

Turkey later dropped the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020, which England took instead for a tournament that was first postponed and then held during the pandemic with limited crowds.

While Turkey bid for Euro 2024, Germany’s bid was too strong in terms of football and finances for UEFA to turn down. Five years ago, the vote was 12-4.

These losses, near misses and sporting policy mistakes came after Turkey reached the semi-finals of Euro 2008 and the 2002 World Cup. As a football country, it feels that it should host a major tournament.

In 2008, Hamit Altntop, the midfielder of the team, who currently works in the federation, told AP that we have reached a certain level, but we have not gone beyond it for some time.

The former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid player suggested that hosting would help boost confidence, belief and self-belief in the next generation of players.

Altntop talking about Turkish football players and fans, we know how passionate they are about football and they deserve it.