England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales denied automatic Euro 2028 qualification in new rule | Football | Sport
England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will have to qualify the hard way after UEFA ruled that the Euro 2028 co-hosts will not have automatic entry into the tournament. The competition will be held in nine venues across the United Kingdom but, unlike in previous years, the hosts will have to go through regular qualifying.
Countries staging international football tournaments are often granted unconditional qualification. However, there is little precedent for four nations co-hosting the same event. That would have meant allowing four teams automatic access to a competition that will only feature 24 countries. UEFA have now confirmed that all four host nations will now go through the usual qualifying format, but with two places in the tournaments reserved for the two highest-ranked teams who fail to qualify.
Should the world rankings remain relatively similar over the next three years, that would almost guarantee England a place in Euro 2028. The Three Lions have not failed to qualify for a major tournament since Euro 2008 and are often expected to perform well in their qualifying groups.
However, should they not be eligible for the competition via that route, England will likely be one of the two best-ranked UK nations. They are currently fourth on FIFA’s leaderboard after reaching last year’s Euro 2024 final. Wales are the next best British team in 29th place.
Scotland are third in 44th and Ireland are 60th.
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