Portugal won Euro 2016 after beating hosts France in the final

Awarding Turkey Euro 2024 has risks, according to an evaluation report by European football's governing body.

Turkey and Germany are in the running to stage the tournament, which will return to a single-host format after Euro 2020 is held across Europe.

A Uefa report states both Turkey's lack of an action plan in the area of human rights and limited hotel capacity in many cities are matters "of concern".

It also labels the scale of transport infrastructure work required "a risk".

Uefa will announce who will host Euro 2024 on 27 September.

Germany and Turkey submit bids to host tournament What's the sales pitch?

According to Uefa's report, Turkey's bid is based on bringing people together by promoting an intercultural dialogue "thanks to its location between three continents".

Turkey is yet to host a major international football tournament but one of the bid's key focal points is to "inspire a wider audience, especially the large youth population, to become involved in football".

Hosting the tournament in 2024 would further mark the end of celebrations for the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of the republic of Turkey, as well as its football federation.

Turkey's official logo and slogan - 'Share Together' - for Euro 2024

Germany is one of 12 countries being used for Euro 2020, but their motivation to host 2024 includes "creating a bridge between elite and grassroots football".

Euro 2024 would also be the first time Germany has hosted the European Championship finals as a unified country - West Germany staged the 1988 tournament.

Decent stadiums?

Turkey is proposing to use 10 venues - with the largest being the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, which has been selected to host the 2020 Champions League final after staging the 2005 final when Liverpool beat AC Milan.

That would be rebuilt before Euro 2024 to provide a net capacity of 85,718.

An artist's impression of how Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium will look once it is rebuilt

The Ankara Stadium in Turkey's capital would also be rebuilt, while the 41,349-capacity Antalya Stadium would be renovated.

According to the report, the aggregate net capacity for 51 matches in Turkey will be about 2,490,000, compared to 2,780,000 in Germany.

None of Germany's 10 proposed venues - Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart - would require any work.

The Olympic Stadium in Berlin hosted the 2006 World Cup final, which saw Italy beat France on penaltiesGetting around

The evaluation report also takes into account getting to and from games, and transport links between the host cities.

"Due to its location in the south-eastern part of Europe, Turkey's international accessibility relies on air transport, mainly via the Istanbul airports and, to some extent, Ankara and Antalya," the report states.

"Within the country, Turkey has planned to extensively enhance its transport infrastructure network at national and city level by 2024.

"The planned level of infrastructure for 2024 would make it possible to meet the tournament requirements.

"The scale of works to be undertaken in the given time frame constitutes a risk, especially in combination with the dependence on a few airports for international and domestic travel."

The estimated travel times between host cities in Turkey

Regarding Germany, the report says all of the proposed host cities are well-connected to motorways.

However, the airports proposed by the host cities of Leipzig, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen are "slightly under requirements in terms of airport capacity and public transport accessibility".

'Turkey's limited hotel capacity a concern'

Two of Turkey's 10 venues are in Istanbul. The other eight host cities are Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Kocaeli, Konya and Trabzon.

According to the report, Istanbul and Antalya's hotels can accommodate a high number of fans.

The report adds: "Ankara's hotel accommodation capacity is limited. For all the other cities, the hotel accommodation capacity is very limited.

"Overall the limited hotel capacity in many cities is a matter of concern."

It is a different story in Germany.

According to the report, hotels in Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart can accommodate "an extremely large number of fans".

It adds: "Leipzig has a high hotel accommodation capacity, whereas Dortmund's capacity is limited.

"The camp sites and short-term rental locations mentioned by the bidder as alternative accommodation possibilities would certainly be sufficient to minimise the impact of the lack of hotel rooms in Dortmund."

Germany coach Joachim Low with the logo for his country's Euro 2024 bidFan zones

Berlin and Dusseldorf have proposed large fan zones with a capacity of more than 100,000 spectators.

Germany's other host cities will accommodate between 33,000 and 80,000 at fan zones.

In Turkey, Istanbul has proposed a location with a capacity of 56,000 spectators.

All other host cities have proposed fan zones with capacities between 9,000 and 37,000 spectators.

Source: bbc.com

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