The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has decided against expanding the European Championship – for now.
They will be sticking with 24 teams as the UK and Ireland jointly bid for the 2028 men’s tournament, Sky News understands.
The feasibility of enlarging the showpiece event to 32 nations had been explored by European football’s governing body.
But giving slots to more than half of UEFA‘s 55 countries at the quadrennial finals would have devalued qualifying or required an overhaul of the format to ensure matches remained appealing.
So, it’s understood that UEFA is now not planning to add another eight finalists after increasing from 16 to 24 teams at Euro 2016.
The UEFA members endorsed retaining a 24-team Euros at a meeting on Saturday – a stance that is now set to be proposed by the national teams’ committee for approval by the governing body’s ruling executive committee.
Saturday’s meetings of European football leaders took place in Frankfurt ahead of the draw on Sunday for qualifying for Euro 2024.
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Before that tournament – which is being held across Germany – UEFA is planning votes in 2023 on the hosts of Euro 2028 and 2032.
The joint bid from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland is facing competition from Turkey for Euro 2028. Turkey is also in the contest for the 2032 edition against Italy.
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Wembley staged the Euro 2020 final and seven other games in a pandemic-delayed competition played across the continent last year.
Image: England are victorious at Women’s Euro 2022
Despite disorder involving England fans ahead of losing the final, UEFA showed its backing for Wembley by staging a match there in June between European champions Italy and South American champions Argentina.
England also hosted the Women’s European Championship this summer – with England beating Germany in the final at Wembley.
The Women’s Euros is set to remain at 16 teams as UEFA tries to grow the event commercially.
UEFA said in a statement: “A review of national team competitions is currently underway. UEFA will not comment on this matter until after the consultation process with national associations has been completed.”
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.