There were a few meetings about that but it went nowhere because Wales and Northern Ireland stepped back from it.In July 2000, SFA chief executive David Taylor announced that Scotland would bid to host the European Championships in 2008, with the preference of the Scottish FA at the time being for Scotland to host the tournament of its own.
At the same time, Taylor announced the bid would enhance if England failed to the secure hosting rights for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
[8] On 6 July 2000, England was eliminated from the second round of voting for the host of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which was ultimately won by Germany.
In May 2001, the SFA and the Scottish Executive gave their support, in principle, to Scotland hosting the European Championships after a report said there were no "insurmountable" problems, with Scottish First Minister Henry McLeish pledging the full backing of the Executive to a bid by Scotland on its own.
[11] On 15 May 2002, Hampden Park in Glasgow hosted the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final between Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, with an estimated £15 million boost for the local economy.
Lyons also noted the friendly atmosphere from both Ireland and Scotland fans in recent tournaments and the passion for football in both nations as another reason for UEFA to support the bid.
[14] It was reported that Croke Park had been identified as a potential UEFA Champions League final venue as a result of the inspection, should the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) abolish Rule 42 of their constitution preventing competitor sports to Gaelic sports to be played at the stadium.
The bid included using the three major football stadia in Glasgow - each requiring little modification due to recent renovations.
The Taylor Report, into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, made redevelopment of Glasgow's two other major football stadia necessary to comply with new ground regulations.
Murrayfield, the national rugby union ground, had also gone through major re-development in the 1990s, becoming the largest stadium in Scotland in the process.
The Gaelic Athletic Association's (GAA) Croke Park, in Dublin, was the biggest stadium in Ireland and had been going through extensive renovation at the time of the bid, being completed in 2004.
A major sticking point of using Croke Park was the GAA's rules on allowing 'foreign' sports to take place at the ground.
The GAA constitution, up until 1971, had been stricter, however, stating a member of the organisation could be banned from competing in Gaelic sports if found to be also playing association football, rugby or cricket.
[22] The Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat centre-right coalition in Ireland had made major spending cuts in the country prior to UEFA's vote on hosting the Championships, which was considered the primary reason for the plug being pulled on the project.
Cited reasons included the issue of having three stadia within the city of Glasgow, the uncertainty over whether Ireland could provide two suitable stadia for the competition, the lack of time between Euro 2008 and the previous major competition hosted in the British Isles, political voting within UEFA, a persevered lack of unity within the Irish Government, the financial visibility of the bid and adverse media coverage within Scotland regarding the bid.
[7] If that is right, and the Nordic countries and Scotland and Ireland lost because of Blatter, then all I can say is that the world of football is more rotten than I thought.
It was a surprise, when I was allowed to come in to vote (after the elimination of the Nordic countries), to find Scotland and Ireland had already been eliminated.It was reviled in documents realised by in 2018, that the Scottish Executive's Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Mike Watson claimed in a cabinet meeting that the bid was "as good as the winning bid", while suggesting that "the Republic of Ireland was unable to meet their end of the bargain".
[32] In June 2008, both Salmond and Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan became supportive of a joint Scotland–Wales bid, particularly when the increase in size of the tournament, from sixteen countries to twenty-four, was announced.
[34] On 1 March 2009, Scotland and Wales officially cancelled their plans to host the competition owing to the economic downturn.
We do want to host a major championships here in Scotland but, particularly in these tough economic times, we have to be realistic about the huge costs involved.
[40][41][42] Ireland proposed that the newly built Aviva Stadium, the replacement of Lansdowne Road, could host matches, while Scotland put forward Hampden Park as a potential venue.
[44] However, the UEFA Executive Committee removed Dublin as a host city on 23 April 2021 due to a lack of guarantees regarding spectators caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (with their matches reallocated to Saint Petersburg for the group stage and London for the round of 16).