Glasgow 2014 ‘boosts hope for Euro football bid’

THE successful hosting of the Commonwealth Games has provided a boost to Glasgow’s hopes of being named a host city for the Euro 2020 football championship, according to a leading Games official.

Glasgow's Hampden Park, a prospective venue for Euro 2020. Picture: AP

The Scottish Football Association would like Hampden Park to be one of the 13 venues across the continent that will jointly host Euro 2020.

Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman Michael Cavanagh said the experience of hosting Glasgow 2014 should work in the SFA’s favour ahead of next month’s decision on venues by governing body Uefa.

He said: “I think Glasgow must be very well placed to win major sporting events after the success of these Games.

“But a Euro 2020 would be fantastic for the city. Glasgow as a city and Scotland as a country have done no harm at all in showing what we can do when handed major sporting events.

“It’s so complex staging a Games because there’s so many small aspects to running them, but it’s really hard to pick out anything we could have done better.”

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has called for Scotland to bid for the 2024 ­European Football Championships, and has been backed by former first minister Henry McLeish.

Glasgow could also consider a bid for the European Athletics Championships, which have never been held in the UK since they began in 1934.