The European football body UEFA all but confirmed the long-expected hosts for the 2032 European Championship as it acknowledged receiving a joint bid from Italy and Türkiye on Wednesday.
According to a statement, Türkiye has withdrawn from the race to host the 2028 edition and decided to merge their 2032 bid with Italy.
The decision leaves the strongly favored U.K. and Ireland as the sole bidders for Euro 2028.
"Their (Türkiye's) bid to stage UEFA Euro 2028 is consequently withdrawn," the European football governing body said in a statement.
Both 2028 and 2032 hosting decisions must be formally approved by the UEFA executive committee meeting next Tuesday in Nyon, Switzerland. Those should be a formality.
"The award of both tournaments still requires the approval of the Executive Committee at its meeting in Nyon on 10 October," the statement added.
UEFA has accepted an Italy-Türkiye bid despite its own rules stating only neighboring member federations can propose co-hosting.
Rome and Istanbul are separated by about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) with flights taking more than two hours.
Italy may have had support within the UEFA ruling committee to beat Türkiye in a head-to-head vote but does not have 10 stadiums ready or in planning to host a 24-team, 51-game tournament.
It needs to build and renovate an aging inventory of stadiums yet construction projects in Italy, such as replacing the iconic San Siro stadium in Milan and Stadio Olimpico in Rome, can be bureaucratic and slow.
Türkiye, on the other hand, has stadiums and infrastructure almost entirely ready after a massive national construction project in the last two decades.
