Azerbaijan & Georgia Team Up to Joint Bid for Euro 2020

European neighbours Azerbaijan and Georgia will make a joint bid to host the European football championships in 2020, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said. 

“Azerbaijan and Georgia … will apply to jointly host the European football championships in 2020,” Saakashvili said during an address to Azerbaijan’s parliament during a visit to Baku. 

The bidding process to host Euro 2020 will start later this year and the winner is due to be announced in 2014. 

During his visit to energy-rich Azerbaijan, Saakashvili also praised the “strategic partnership” between the two small Caucasus states which have collaborated on projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that takes Caspian Sea oil to European markets. 

This year’s European football championship will be jointly hosted by Polandand Ukraine, with the 2016 tournament to be held in France. 

Russia will host the 2018 World Cup.

Azerbaijan has also submitted a bid to host the 2020 Olympic summer games.

by Ismail Uddin