LONDON: Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn believes England should be aiming to lift the trophy at Wembley Stadium in 2020 when London hosts the semi-finals and final of the next European Championship.

Glenn was speaking at London’s City Hall where the branding for Euro 2020 was unveiled – an event hosted by London mayor Sadiq Khan and representatives from the 12 other European cities that are hosting games in this one-off pan-continental version of the competition.

With Wembley staging the two semi-finals and final of the event, new FA chairman Greg Clarke said during his welcome speech that England should try to “at least replicate” the team’s achievement the last time the country hosted the Euros in 1996, when they reached the semi-finals.

But when asked later if that was ambitious enough, Glenn said: “We’ll turn up to every tournament as contenders. That has to be our expectation.

Fans’ costs concerns

“You can never say you’re going to win it because everybody else wants to win it too. But that is our ambition: to turn up to every tournament as a reasonable favourite and take it from there.”

A cautionary note about the cost for fans was struck by Greg Clarke, the new FA chairman.

Clarke, who took over from Greg Dyke in August, said: “It’s like trying to book a low-cost airline in the summer when the school holidays are on.

“The free market will set the prices between those cities. Demands and prices are high and I’m not sure what UEFA can do about it.”

Clarke also said the FA would consider seriously whether to bid for future tournaments.

He said: “I think it would be a big ask to get Euro 2024 when we’ve had the final here [in 2020] but we’re reaching out to our friends in UEFA and building relationships and building an ability to bid.”

Euro 2020 venue information:

Semi-finals and final

Wembley Stadium (London)

Three group-stage games and one quarter-final

Baku Olympic Stadium (Baku)

Allianz Arena (Munich)

Stadio Olimpico (Rome)

Zenit Arena (St Petersburg)

Three group stage games and one round-of-16 match

EuroStadium (Brussels)

Parken Stadium (Copenhagen)

Ferenc Puskas Stadium (Budapest)

Aviva Stadium (Dublin)

Amsterdam Arena (Amsterdam)

National Arena (Bucharest)

Hampden Park (Glasgow)

San Mames Stadium (Bilbao)

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