England face missing Euro 2028 despite hosting tournament as nightmare scenario emerges
England face missing Euro 2028 despite hosting the tournament.
Chris Byfield
England face missing Euro 2028 despite hosting the tournament.
The UK and Ireland won the bidding process unopposed for the next edition of the European Championship in 2028.
Each of the first 10 European Championships were hosted by a single nation, but since the turn of the century, four of the seven editions of the competition to have taken place have involved multiple host nations.
And one potential issue yet to be resolved ahead of the competition is that of automatic qualification.
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UEFA rules state a maximum of two host nations can be granted a spot in the tournament without qualifying.
Currently, the Times claim the plan is for all five host nations to participate in the qualifying phase, with the two automatic spots reserved for the sides that fail to qualify for the finals.
If three or four host nations fail to make it, the best two teams would be awarded the automatic spots.
It is currently unclear how UEFA will determine the two best teams in qualifying should more than two nations fail to qualify for Euro 2028.
In turn, in the unlikely scenario that England finish their qualifying round lower than the other co-hosts, they could be in real danger of missing the tournament.
However, if the automatic spots are determined by coefficient rankings, England should not have a problem as they are among the highest-ranked teams in Europe.
Although it is unlikely that England will fail to qualify, we have seen stranger things happen in football.
For example, back in 2008, England lost out to Croatia in their bid to qualify for Euro 2008.
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