England and the other British and Irish countries hoping to compete in the 2028 Euros could miss out on qualification, despite hosting the tournament.
In less than three years, the United Kingdom and Ireland will host one of the biggest international tournaments in football as they welcome teams from across the continent for the 2028 UEFA European Football Championship.
Nine different stadiums across England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland will host matches during the tournament, with the draw set to take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 6 December 2026.
In total, there will be 51 matches played across June and July involving 24 teams, with qualification set to get underway between March and November 2027.
Advert
But just because they are holding the competition, doesn't mean that England and the other Euro 2028 hosts are guaranteed a spot among the 24 teams set to play, as a brutal scenario could see some of the host nations miss out.
Despite the fact that they are hosting Euro 2028, the four host nations will not be handed automatic qualification for the competition, although they will have the benefit of playing all of their group games in front of home fans if they qualify directly.
Instead, all four countries will go through qualification as they would for any typical European Football Championship, competing with dozens of other nations across the continent.
Thankfully for fans of the Euro hosts, two automatic places will be set aside to ensure that at least two of England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland will appear in the tournament.
However, this does not necessarily guarantee that England, or any of the other hosts will qualify, as these two spots will be given to the best-ranked host nations who do not qualify on the pitch.
As it stands, England are the highest-ranked home nation, currently sitting third in FIFA Men’s World Ranking, while Wales, Scotland and Ireland are ranked 34th, 38th and 62nd respectively.
Of course, these rankings are likely to change between now and the end of the qualification campaign, meaning the two best-ranked nations could change before the automatic places would be decided.
This means that, in the albeit unlikely scenario that England suffer a significant drop off in form and fall behind two of their fellow hosts and those hosts, and England, all fail to qualify for the competition through traditional means, then the Three Lions would not play in Euro 2028.
That being said, it remains likely that England will remain the highest-ranked host nation and should qualify for Euro 2028 through their qualification campaign, leaving the automatic spots to their fellow hosts, should they need them.
When are England's potential games at Euro 2028?
Should England qualify for Euro 2028, they will begin their home tournament with a match on Saturday June 10 in Manchester City's Etihad Stadium.
They will then play in the famous Wembley Stadium for the remainder of their group stages matches on Wednesday June 14 and Monday June 19.
Newcastle United's St James' Park, Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium and the Principality Stadium in Cardiff are among the other stadiums that England could play in throughout the tournament, with the final set to take place on Sunday July 9 in Wembley.
Topics: Euro 2028, England, Football, UEFA, Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland
Ben McCrum