A news that hovered for some time and has now become official. The 2032 Europeans could be played in Italy. It would be a great success for the Italian Game Federation Football who made the candidacy in the past few hours. In the past there was also talk of the possibility that Italy would also be a candidate to host the 2028 European Championships, but in the end they opted for those of 2032 probably, as reported by the Gazzetta dello Sport, to have more time. This time frame will be used to "plan the modernization of the plant framework through the construction of new stadiums and the restructuring of existing ones." In short, a choice that allows Italy to have more chances of being chosen as the host country of the important sporting event.
The desire to be able to host the European 2032 is demonstrated by the large advance with which the FIGC moved to advance the candidacy. The deadline to apply is set for 23 March, but Italy has already formalized its candidacy a month and a half in advance. In the last event of the European Championships, Italy hosted the inaugural ceremony at the Olimpico in Rome.
European 2032: third time in Italy?
This candidacy it could materialize with the third time in which Italy hosts the European football championships. On the other two occasions it was the 1968 and 1980. In both cases, hosting the football event did well for the Azzurri. In fact, in 1968 Italy won its first European (and only one, until a few months ago when Bonucci and company brought the cup back to Italy). In second place came Yugoslavia, beaten in the final by the Azzurri, while to complete the podium there was England who managed to beat the Soviet Union in the final for third place. In 1980, on the other hand, Italy did not win, but nevertheless came one step away from the podium, losing the final for third place against Czechoslovakia. In that year it was West Germany that won, with Belgium finishing second.
Then a long period of decline for Italy to the Europeans. From 1980 to 2000, the Azzurri never reached the podium (in the first year of the new millennium, the Azzurri lost the final with France). On the contrary, in this period there was a double from France (winner in 1984 and, in fact, in 2000) and a victory each for the Netherlands (1988), for Denmark (1992) and for Germany (1996). Then, Spain came to the fore and won the competition twice from 2000 to 2020 (in 2008 and 2012). Greece was the winner of 2004 and Portugal of 2016. The last competition, however, as is well known, was played on an itinerant basis throughout Europe and was won by Italy in the final against England.
The roll of honor of Europeans
The roll of honor of Europeans sees dominating Spain , Germany with 3 wins each. Italy and France follow with 2 victories each. Then, Russia, the Czech Republic, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece with one victory each. Among the big names, theEngland which has never managed to win a European.
