Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will host the opening match of Euro 2028, as UEFA confirmed details of the tournament at its official launch in London on Wednesday. The semi-finals and final will
be played at Wembley Stadium.
The 24-team European Championship will be staged across nine venues in four host nations — England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland had been set to take part as a co-host, but Belfast’s Casement Park was removed from the list due to funding shortfalls.
Unlike previous editions, host nations will not receive automatic qualification for Euro 2028. Instead, they must qualify through the regular process — though those who do will be guaranteed to play their group matches at home. Each host will be placed in a separate qualifying group, with two additional spots reserved for the highest-ranked hosts who fail to qualify directly.
Alongside the opening match, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will also stage a quarter-final, with other last-eight games set for Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Glasgow’s Hampden Park and Wembley.
Five English venues will feature: Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Villa Park, Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium, and St James’ Park in Newcastle. If England qualify directly, their opening group game will be played at the Etihad before moving to Wembley for the knockout rounds.
The last-16 fixtures will be spread across all host venues except Wembley, meaning England would play in Newcastle or Liverpool depending on their group position.
The tournament’s qualifying draw will take place in Belfast on 6 December 2026.
A small pro-Palestine demonstration took place outside the launch event, with protesters voicing opposition to Israel’s continued membership of UEFA. Photo by Dominic Nelson, Wikimedia commons.