THE AWARDING OF the 2020 Olympic Summer Games to Tokyo means Germany is set to miss out on their chance to host the final of the 2020 European football championships.
Tokyo was awarded the 2020 games on Saturday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Buenos Aires, beating rival bids from Istanbul and Madrid.
Prior to the decision, the German Football Federation (DFB) had said they would withdraw their bid against Istanbul to host the Euro 2020 final, if the Turkish city was unsuccessful in their Olympic bid.
The DFB has already decided Munich’s Allianz Arena, home of European champions Bayern Munich, is their candidate to potentially host Euro 2020 matches with UEFA set to announce the 13 host cities, and which games they will stage, in September 2014.
For the first time the 2020 European championships will be spread across major cities on the continent, not just held by either a single or co-host nations.
The DFB have prepared bids to host either the Euro 2020 semi-finals and final, or three group matches and a quarter-final, but are now set to persevere with only the latter.
“There is a promise with (UEFA president) Michel Platini and we have said that we will not seek a direct duel with Turkey,” DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach has said on the subject.
