Turkey has got an unofficial promise from the UEFA President, Michel Platini, to host the 2020 European Football Championships, a key figure in the country’s Olympic Committee has claimed.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, Türker Arslan, the vice chairman of Turkey’s National Olympic Committee (TMOK), said during a panel in Antalya that the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chairman Mehmet Ali Aydınlar got the word from Platini, the head of the continental governing body of the game.
“Mr. Aydınlar has told me that UEFA President Platini promised him that Turkey will host Euro 2020,” Arslan said. “They really believe that they will win the bid.”
Turkey competed and lost to France, the country which Platini represented as a professional footballer, to host Euro 2016. After France won the bid in 2010 there was heavy criticism toward Platini with claims that he favored his country.
Arslan’s remarks came during a speech in which he was talking about Istanbul’s preparations for the bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
When in Nyon, Switzerland, Aydınlar met UEFA officials. The main agenda was not the European Football Championships, however, but the match-fixing case. The TFF chairman met UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino and Director of Legal Affairs Alasdair Bell on the issue.
