The next European Football Championships Euro 2016 will be held in France.
The matches will be played in 9 host-cities in 10 stadiums, four in the north of the country in Paris (2), Lille and Lens and six in the south in Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nice, Lyon, and St-Etienne.
During Euro 2016 the number of participants will be extended from 16 to 24 teams.
France will be the first Euro Cup host country entertaining such a large number of nationalities.
Uefa's president Michael Platini claims that it will be good for football promotion and for football fans who will be able to experience the joy of entertaining in the big event. Specially for those from middle-ranked countries who would have a much greater chance of qualifying for the finals than earlier.
The number of matches in the Euro 2016 finals will increase from 31 to 51. It will take over one month and attract over 2,5 millions supporters. All of that means that European Football Championships in 2016 will be very unique.
That's not all. Uefa plans to change Euro Cup tournament format diametrically. During Euro 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine Michael Platini said that Euro 2020 could be staged even in 12 or 13 countries. But that's not concerns Euro 2016.
Euro 2016 qualifiers
Uefa hasn't published format for the Euro 2016 qualification yet but we know that 52 European national football teams will compete in the qualifying round from September 2014 to November 2015. France as the host country don't have to take part in Euro 2016 qualifiers
Euro 2016 qualifiers seeding pots will be known after the end of World Cup 2014 qualifying round, with the Euro 2012 champions automatically top seeded.
Russia will start qualifiers with six point reduction as a result of fan violence in Poland during Euro Cup 2012.
UEFA announced on Tuesday it had received four bids to stage the Euro 2016 championships by Monday's deadline. They are France, Italy, Turkey and a joint bid from Sweden and Norway.
UEFA's executive committee will take a final decision on 27 or 28 May 2010.
UEFA looks set to expand the EURO championship to 24 teams from 2016.
