Four candidates vie to host Women’s Euro 2029 after Italy withdraw

Four candidates will bid for the right to host the women’s 2029 European Championship after Italy dropped out on Friday, the continent’s sporting governing body UEFA announced.

Italy’s withdrawal — the country is already co-hosting the 2032 men’s edition with Turkey — leaves Germany, Poland, Portugal and a joint bid by Denmark and Sweden. UEFA will announce the winning bid on December 3.

The winner will have a hard act to follow after the success of this year’s tournament in Switzerland, which ended with England retaining their title. 

All but two of the 31 matches were sold out, with a record total of 657,300 spectators attending.

Eight-time European champions Germany are the heavyweight contenders. They hosted the men’s Euro 2024 and lost to Brazil in the race to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

UEFA’s conditions for candidates to host the tournament permit joint bids — two countries maximum — if they are neighbours.

The host must also have one stadium with a capacity of 50,000 and at least three capable of welcoming 30,000 spectators.

UEFA has retained the number of finalists at 16, as has been the case since 2017, refusing to go down the route of FIFA which is expanding the number of teams to 48 for the 2031 Women’s World Cup — that tournament is expected to be co-hosted by the United States and Mexico.