UEFA EURO 2020 bid regulations on Sofia agenda

The bid regulations for UEFA EURO 2020 head the agenda for the latest meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday.

The Executive Committee, chaired by UEFA President Michel Platini, will be asked to approve the bidding requirements and bid regulations for the final tournament in seven years' time, which will be staged in 12 cities across Europe, following a decision by the committee in Lausanne in December.

Further approval of key event and football principles for UEFA EURO 2020 was given by the Executive Committee in Nyon in January. The matches will be split into 13 different packages, with 12 ordinary packages including three group matches and one knockout round (round of 16 or quarter-final), and one package for the semi-finals and the final. Both semi-finals and the final will be played in one stadium.

Each association will be allowed to present up to two bids, one for the ordinary package and one for the semi-finals/final package. Each national association can decide to present the same city for these two bids or two different cities. Projected stadiums will be admitted in the bidding process, with a deadline of 2016 for the construction of any new stadium to start, failing which the decision on such a host city could be reviewed.

Following approval of the bidding requirements and bid regulations, the bidding process timeline agreed by the Executive Committee in January is as follows:

• April 2013: Publication of the bid requirements and launch of the bidding phase

• September 2013: Formal confirmation of their bid by the candidates

• April/May 2014: Submission of bid dossiers and start of the evaluation phase

• September 2014: Appointment of the host cities by the UEFA Executive Committee

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Executive Committee will be asked to raftify new members of the UEFA Referee Convention, which aims to enhance referee education, promote the role of the referee and improve refereeing structures and development within Europe.

Approval will also be sought for the following competition regulations:

• 2013/14 UEFA Champions League

• 2013/14 UEFA Europa League

• 2013 UEFA Super Cup

• 2013/14 UEFA Women's Champions League

• 2013/14 UEFA Youth League

• 2013/14 UEFA Futsal Cup

The meeting of the Executive Committee will start at 09.00 local time (08.00CET) and will be followed by a press conference attended by both UEFA President Michel Platini and UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino. The press conference, which will be broadcast live on UEFA.com, is scheduled to start at 17.00 local time (16.00CET), but this time is subject to change.

The next meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee is scheduled to take place in London on 22/23 May ahead of the XXXVII Ordinary UEFA Congress in the same city on 24 May.