The Cabinet will this morning approve Ireland’s joint bid to host the Euro 2028 football championship, it is understood.
The memo will be brought by Catherine Martin, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and Junior Sports Minister Jack Chambers to this morning’s Cabinet meeting.
The Irish Mirror understands that Minister Chambers met remotely with representatives from the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland last week to discuss the bid.
The joint bid by Ireland and the UK, along with the five football associations, must be submitted before UEFA’s deadline tomorrow.
The preliminary bid will be submitted this week and will comprise of a detailed plan outlining how the host nations would deliver on UEFA’s hosting requirements for EURO 2028.
A final bid dossier must then be submitted in April.
A decision on who will host the tournament is expected to be announced by UEFA in September.
A preliminary business case, that contains a detailed cost-benefit analysis, has been carried out and Ministers Martin and Chambers.
It is understood that the pair will recommend to Cabinet that Ireland should support the submission of a bid.
They will outline that there would be a range of economic and social benefits to co-hosting the tournament.
Senior Government sources told The Irish Mirror last night that it is expected that the bid will be given the green light when the Cabinet meets at Government Buildings this morning.
Ministers Martin and Chambers will ask their Cabinet colleagues to approve a letter of support to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to allow it to submit a preliminary bid to jointly host the tournament with the other football associations.
It is understood that there are high hopes that Ireland and the other nations’ bid will be successful as Turkey is the only other rival bidder to hold the championship.
The Ministers will also argue that Ireland co-hosting the championship would bring a range of other benefits, including increased participation in sports and a boost to tourism with up to 120,000 fans expected to travel to Ireland for the tournament.
If successful, Ireland could host up to seven games during Euro 2028.
The games would be spread between the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park.
While there is no fee for hosting for Euro 2028, upgrades to venues, policing and fan zones would have to be paid for by the host nations.
The Aviva had been due to host games for Euro 2020 and will also host the 2024 Europa League Final.
Sources said that as a result, any required upgrading costs would be low. It is understood, however, Croke Park would require greater investment.
No other stadiums would be used, sources told The Irish Mirror.
UEFA previously announced that Euro 28 will consist of 24 teams, not 32 as had been considered at one point.
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