Why Euros boost is normal service resumed for Blues

FIVE games for Hill Dickinson Stadium at the next European Championships - not bad for a venue that many, including plenty in this city, said would never be built.

- 

Unlike in 1966, the only time that England has hosted the World Cup, the 2028 European Championships will be staged jointly with Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, but Everton's new home, the most recently built of all the venues and only one not completed when the bid was placed, was one of just four English provincial grounds to get the nod.

The fact that the nation that gave birth to modern football and whose top flight attracts the biggest global audiences and largest aggregate attendances has still only hosted one World Cup could be the subject of an entirely different column all together, especially when you consider that Mexico will next year be a host nation for the third time, Italy, France, Germany and Brazil have all hosted twice with the USA joining them in 2026, while the last two tournaments have been in Russia and Qatar.

The latter, which on top of a dubious track record over human rights, saw a competition played almost entirely in a single urban area in a nation with next to no football pedigree in the middle of the season seemed a particularly dubious call from FIFA who have subsequently pushed through something of a repeat performance by returning to the region in 2034 with Saudi Arabia being awarded the finals last year after a fast-track uncontested process.

England, in turn, along with the rest of their co-hosts, dropped their own bid for the centenary 2030 World Cup to focus on securing Euro 2028.