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By Sergio Goncalves LISBON Portugal unveiled its draft 2024 budget on Tuesday, projecting a surplus of 0.2% of

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Bid leaders have promised Euro 2028 will be accessible and affordable after UEFA officially awarded the tournament to the UK and Ireland. The five-nation bid was formally approved on Tuesday, having gone into decision day unopposed following the withdrawal of Turkey. Politicians including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the announcement, with the tournament set to bring £2.6billion in benefits to the host economies, according to analysts. Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said it was vital that the tournament be open to as many people from the five nations as possible. Ten venues in nine cities were included in the final bid document submitted to UEFA in April – Wembley, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Etihad Stadium, Villa Park, Bramley-Moore Dock, St James’ Park, Hampden Park, the Aviva Stadium, a redeveloped Casement Park and the Principality Stadium. Along with fan-zone sites and training grounds in other locations, Bullingham said the task was to ensure no-one feels cut off from the action, regardless of location or financial means. It is critical that the whole country feels they are involved and we have that excitement throughout every part of the country Mark Bullingham “You’ve seen the selected stadia are spread throughout the whole of the country, so everyone has an event within touching distance,” he said in Nyon on Tuesday. “It is critical that the whole country feels they are involved and we have that excitement throughout every part of the country.” Bullingham confirmed all five countries would enter qualification, with UEFA having reserved two ‘safety net’ places for any that miss out. Tickets for Euro 2024 start at 30 euros (£26) and, asked about how important it was to ensure affordability, Bullingham said: “We will absolutely always do that. “We want the whole country to be engaged and experience being part of the Euros.” Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney said hosting a major championship in the country was “pure gold” and revealed that the bid proposal was for Cardiff’s Principality Stadium to host the opening match, subject to UEFA approval. Mooney said: “Cardiff would be perfect for the opening match. Look, we could be greedy and say we’d love the final as well, but then you’re denying 15 to 20,000 people the chance to be at a final. “I think the way we’ve done the stadiums is very, very good. We’re hoping to get a quarter-final as well. “The association’s job is to grow the game, to promote the game, to get more boys and girls involved, that’s our job. To have a major championship come to our country for the first time is pure gold.” Mooney added that the proposal was for Wembley to host the semi-finals and final as things stood. Bullingham said the awarding of Euro 2028 to the UK and Ireland vindicated the decision by the five nations to turn away from the 2030 World Cup. The countries had originally scoped out the feasibility of hosting the 2030 finals, but switched focus in February 2022. At the time Bullingham had spoken of the “uncertainty” surrounding a bid for the global event. FIFA announced last week that a proposal for a three-continent, six-nation hosting of 2030 had been approved by its Council, opening the door for Saudi Arabia to likely stage the following tournament in 2034. Asked whether he felt that was evidence the UK and Irish FAs had gone down the correct path, Bullingham said: “We have never doubted we made the right decision. “We were choosing between two tournaments, one we felt we had a really good chance of winning, one we felt we at best would have been a real long shot to win. “We chose to go for 2028 and we are delighted we did. We think the announcement helps vindicate the decision and we think we will put on a brilliant tournament that will make a massive impact on all parts of the country on our facilities, on the economic impact on the country, on fans and the feel-good factor. “So we are delighted we have secured the tournament.” Sunak, who had been at England’s training base at St George’s Park on Tuesday, welcomed UEFA’s announcement, saying: “I grew up with Euro 96 being one of the most amazing memories of my childhood. “And we have a chance to do that all over again for lots more people, just like we did last year with the Lionesses. “We host tournaments better than anyone else. It’s going to be a massive boost for the economy. “We’re going to welcome millions of people to the country and it’s going to inspire a whole new generation.” Read More Wales say Dan Biggar is fit for World Cup quarter-final against Argentina Garry Cook vows to make Birmingham ‘a powerhouse’ amid Wayne Rooney reports Catalans win in Grand Final would ‘make huge noise around the world’ – McNamara A closer look at the UK and Ireland’s host venues for Euro 2028 A closer look at the UK and Ireland’s host venues for Euro 2028 James Ryan and Mack Hansen injury doubts for Ireland against New Zealand

The NHL sent a memo to teams last week clarifying what players can and cannot do as part of theme celebrations this season, including a ban on the use of rainbow-colored stick tape for Pride nights

First-choice flyhalf Dan Biggar has recovered from a pectoral strain to be available for Wales’ Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against Argentina on Saturday in Marseille

It is only now, despite knowing for months, that those involved in the United Kingdom-Ireland Euro 2028 bid are excitedly talking about the reality of tournament football returning to these islands. There was a sense from inside the campaign of not wishing to tempt fate, given how previous bids have gone. That is despite the fact this has been a fait accompli for well over a year. And, even though this victory should be celebrated, it does provoke bigger questions over football politics, especially given the controversies over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes and the reforms that followed them. Euro 2028 is one of potentially five consecutive European Championships and World Cups that will have had virtually no competition in the bidding processes. The 2028 bid has been won because Turkey finally withdrew. They were never likely to win due to their comparative lack of infrastructure, which is why they have joined up with Italy to bid for Euro 2032. That Mediterranean joint-bid is similarly the only candidate for 2032, after a prospective Russian campaign was ruled ineligible by Uefa due to the invasion of Ukraine. In echoes of the 2028 process, the Canada-Mexico-USA bid for the 2026 World Cup did face competition from Morocco, but the latter was seen as having no chance for the same reason as Turkey. The “United 2026” bid ended up getting more than twice as many votes as its African rival. That saw Morocco eventually join up with Spain-Portugal for 2030, in a move that was seen as “outmanoeuvring” the politically influential Saudi Arabian bid since it split the African vote. The Gulf kingdom was no longer confident of victory so didn’t want to go through defeat, withdrawing … temporarily. The only competitor at that point was the South American bid to celebrate the centenary of the inaugural Uruguay 1930 World Cup, which had an inspirationally romantic sway. They were instead co-opted into an unprecedented “global celebration” for 2030 by being allowed to host the first three games. Uruguay get the opening match as recognition of their status as 1930 host and champions Argentina get the second match as recognition of their performance as 1930 runners-up and major partner. Paraguay get the third match, doing very well out of being the base of the South American federation, Conmebol. While there is admittedly a similar romance to that solution, and it eliminates any politicking before such a symbolic tournament, it has one more questionable effect. Fifa’s continental rotation rules mean South America has given up the chance at 2034 – since no confederation can host competition fixtures in consecutive tournaments – for a mere three games. It’s quite the trade-off. As one involved figure said, “that’s football politics”. That only leaves countries from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania Football Confederation eligible, and the former are already fully backing Saudi Arabia. Australia and New Zealand are, meanwhile, left scrambling to find at least three extra stadia that meet the 40,000 minimum capacity in time for the 31 October bid deadline. It already looks like the decision may well go to the member associations for mere ratification. That should pose much bigger questions for football governance since one of the crucial points after the farce of 2018-22 was to improve transparency. A key measure in this was supposed to be bringing the World Cup vote to the members. That may still happen by the letter of the rules, but the spirit of it all has felt somewhat different. If the post-2022 reforms were supposed to be about preventing backroom deals, what has happened here? “It’s clear it’s gone backwards in terms of democracy and bidding,” one centrally involved source said. Wider politics clearly plays an influential role here. After the game was split by the 2018 and 2022 votes, with the World Cup brought to effective autocracies, three successive tournaments are now going back to traditional Western European football powers. England is the biggest partner in 2028, enjoying its first full tournament since 1996. Spain is the biggest partner in 2030, enjoying its first full tournament since 1982. Italy is the biggest partner in 2032, set to enjoy its first full tournament since 1990. Bookending those three tournaments, then, are almost certain to be two of the true geopolitical powers. The USA is now seen by all of football as the priority market with the sport burgeoning there. Saudi Arabia has meanwhile targeted a huge expansion into the game as part of a wider political and economic project. The kingdom also enjoys an increasingly strong relationship with Fifa, and its investment funds were set to bankroll the original idea for the expanded Club World Cup. That plan has now settled into a 32-team event in 2025 in the USA, that Saudi Pro League clubs are targeting for a major statement as the next phase of their development. They want to help make it a competitor to the Champions League, increasing their own profile. The prize and participation money for that event have yet to be decided. There is obviously significant political intrigue to all of this, as well as a lot of accusations behind the scenes. Most of the major forces look to have got what they wanted without much pushback. Many sources talk of “horse trading” between the major nations. Others go so far as using words like “stitch-up”. Some smaller South American federations aren’t overly happy with the 2030 decision, especially with how having three automatic qualifiers – in the three host nations – immediately reduces the value of the highly lucrative qualification league, while denying the chance at a World Cup for 24 years. On the other side, some admit this situation may be better than random bids and huge amounts of money wasted on failed campaigns. A further importance to all of this is that, for all the power of the club game, the hosting of the World Cup is still seen as the most influential development in football. It usually dictates the game for a decade, if not longer. The latter could be seen in how USA 94 directly instigated huge American investment into football, as well as multiple ownerships that started with the Glazers. The decision to award 2022 to Qatar, then, was probably the most influential moment in modern football history. It directly caused regime change at Fifa and Uefa, changed the calendar, and was a factor in Qatar taking over Paris Saint-Germain and Saudi Arabia buying Newcastle United. It has undeniably played a part in Saudi Arabia seeking to host a World Cup, too. The regional rivalry means Mohammed Bin Salman wants his own tournament, before you get to the wider benefits. That speaks to the profound political power of the World Cup, as football increases its pervasiveness as the most popular cultural pursuit the planet has ever seen. It all comes as the tournament itself becomes so big that fewer and fewer countries can actually stage it. That has influenced these bidding processes too. So much of this serves as a metaphor for the game as a whole. And, at the end of it all, there is still pure beauty in how people get to watch these great magical events near them. All of Dublin, Glasgow, Cardiff will be thrilled. That, of course, is precisely why all of this has a power beyond emotion. Read More Saudi Arabia bid for 2034 World Cup strengthened after Australia and New Zealand hit hurdle Gareth Southgate questions ‘integrity’ of 2030 World Cup format 2030 World Cup will be hosted by six countries across three continents, Fifa announces Euro 2028: Will host nations get automatic qualification? Cardiff, Glasgow, Dublin... The Euro 2028 final should be staged anywhere but Wembley UK and Ireland name 10 venues for Euro 2028

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A controversial plan to admit Russian under-17 teams to Uefa competitions amid the invasion of Ukraine has been shelved. In late September, a motion passed by Uefa’s executive committee had asked the organisation’s administrators to look at a “technical solution” to enable the under-17 boys and girls teams to enter qualification for finals tournaments due to take place in Cyprus and Sweden next year. A number of associations, including the English Football Association, had announced their opposition to the plan, insisting that England teams would not line up against Russian opponents under any circumstances. The formal readmission of Russian teams had been on the agenda for the executive committee meeting on Tuesday which also decided on hosting for the men’s Euros in 2028 and 2032. Uefa’s plan was for matches to have to be played without the flag, anthem or kit of the Russian national team and not on Russian soil. Uefa had also stated their belief that “children should not be punished for actions whose responsibility lies exclusively with adults and is firmly convinced that football should never give up sending messages of peace and hope.” However, a Uefa spokesperson said: “The agenda point was withdrawn as no technical solution to allow Russian teams to play could be found.” The Fifa council had also approved the return of Russian teams to its competitions last week, but that decision is now effectively rendered redundant as the European competitions act as the qualification pathway to the global events. Fifa and Uefa originally banned all Russian national teams and clubs from their competitions in February last year within days of the Russians launching their invasion of Ukraine. St Petersburg was due to host the 2022 Champions League final, which was switched to Paris, and this summer’s Super Cup was moved from Kazan to Athens, while Uefa has announced that Warsaw will host the 2024 Super Cup. Additional reporting by PA Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary