Post by gw on Apr 21, 2007 18:24:33 GMT -1
Wales football bosses intend to approach the Scottish FA with a proposal for a joint bid for the European Championships in 2016.
Wales have been encouraged by yesterday's UEFA decision to give the Euro 2012 tournament to Poland and the Ukraine at a meeting held in Cardiff.
David Collins, Football Association of Wales secretary general, said:
"It's raised the issue for us that there's the possibility of Wales and Scotland getting together to make a joint bid.
Collins told BBC Wales: "At this moment in time we're floating the idea with Scotland.
"We will start talking with the Scottish FA to see if they feel they could join with us and hopefully in the next few months we will have a clearer idea.
"Then we could get the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly government to see if we could move forward to put a bid together."
Wales were initially involved in a proposed three-country bid (Wales, Scotland, Republic of Ireland) for the 2008 finals, which was abandoned in 2002 and replaced with a Scots-Irish bid which failed.
Now Collins clearly wants to resurrect something similar but this time without the Irish.
All bids must have eight stadiums with at least 30,000 seats and Wales were hampered by having just one stadium that met UEFA's guidelines - the 74,500-seater Millennium Stadium.
That could change with the planned new stadium for Cardiff City, and Collins says the FAW will look into the possibility of developing Swansea's Liberty Stadium and Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.
That would give Wales the necessary four stadia to pull their weight with the Scots, who boast a number of top grounds including Hampden Park, Celtic Park, Ibrox and Murrayfield.
However, UEFA is looking at the possibility of expanding the finals to include 24 rather than the current 16 teams, which could require further stadia.
An SFA spokesman responded to Collins' comments by saying: "We have had no formal approach from the Welsh FA."
Wales have been encouraged by yesterday's UEFA decision to give the Euro 2012 tournament to Poland and the Ukraine at a meeting held in Cardiff.
David Collins, Football Association of Wales secretary general, said:
"It's raised the issue for us that there's the possibility of Wales and Scotland getting together to make a joint bid.
Collins told BBC Wales: "At this moment in time we're floating the idea with Scotland.
"We will start talking with the Scottish FA to see if they feel they could join with us and hopefully in the next few months we will have a clearer idea.
"Then we could get the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly government to see if we could move forward to put a bid together."
Wales were initially involved in a proposed three-country bid (Wales, Scotland, Republic of Ireland) for the 2008 finals, which was abandoned in 2002 and replaced with a Scots-Irish bid which failed.
Now Collins clearly wants to resurrect something similar but this time without the Irish.
All bids must have eight stadiums with at least 30,000 seats and Wales were hampered by having just one stadium that met UEFA's guidelines - the 74,500-seater Millennium Stadium.
That could change with the planned new stadium for Cardiff City, and Collins says the FAW will look into the possibility of developing Swansea's Liberty Stadium and Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.
That would give Wales the necessary four stadia to pull their weight with the Scots, who boast a number of top grounds including Hampden Park, Celtic Park, Ibrox and Murrayfield.
However, UEFA is looking at the possibility of expanding the finals to include 24 rather than the current 16 teams, which could require further stadia.
An SFA spokesman responded to Collins' comments by saying: "We have had no formal approach from the Welsh FA."
