ENGLAND WILL HOST the 2021 Women’s European Championship, Uefa has announced.
The Football Association was the only bidder to stage the tournament, and was confirmed as the host nation by the Uefa Executive Committee following a meeting in Dublin on Monday.
The draw for the qualifying group stage will take place on 22 February, where Ireland will discover who they are up against to book their spot in the tournament across the water.
Ireland are still looking to qualify for a major tournament after missing out on a place in the 2019 World Cup earlier this year. They recorded some encouraging results during the campaign, but their fate was sealed following defeat to Norway in June.
2019: #FIFAWWC, France
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) December 3, 2018
2020: #Tokyo2020, Tokyo
2021: #WEURO2021, ENGLANDDDDDDDDDDDD 🎉🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/fGVI2d2oJ7
The 16 sides will be drawn into four groups of four for the Euros, with the top two in each section progressing to the knockout phase.
As hosts, England will receive a bye to the finals while the remaining teams will be drawn into nine groups of five or six.
The nine group winners and the three runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth and fifth in their section qualify directly. The other six runners-up will play off for the remaining three finals slots.
The qualifying and play-off stages are provisionally scheduled to run between August and October 2020 before the finals head to England in 2021.
The final will be held in Wembley Stadium and seven other venues across the country have been proposed to host matches during the tournament.
You can find out more information about the women’s European Championship on the Uefa website.
Subscribe to our new podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42, here:
