Azerbaijan and Georgia will submit a joint bid to host the Euro 2020 football championships, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in an address to the Azerbaijani parliament Wednesday.
The two South Caucasus countries would follow the example of the Netherlands and Belgium, which became the first countries to jointly host the European Championships in 2002, as well as Switzerland and Austria in 2008.
UEFA will decide on the bids in 2014, although some bids will be eliminated as soon as next year.
Various joint bids for Euro 2020 are reportedly under discussion, although none has been officially confirmed.
Romania has been linked with both Hungary and Bulgaria, while Belgium and the Netherlands may team up again.
Azerbaijan’s neighbor Turkey reportedly remains keen to host its first major football tournament after it lost out to France in the bidding for Euro 2016.
An Azerbaijan-Georgia Euro 2020 would not host the first major football event in the Caucasus, however, as the Russian city of Sochi is listed as one of the host cities for the 2018 World Cup.
