Georgia, Azerbaijan To Jointly Bid For Euro 2020 Hosting Honors

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili proposed jointly hosting the Euro 2020 soccer tournament during a speech to the Azerbaijani parliament in March.

Just hours after Azerbaijan's bid to hold the Olympic Games in Baku in 2020 was excluded by the International Olympic Committee, the president of Azerbaijan's Football Federation said his country has submitted a bid to co-host the Euro-2020 soccer championship with neighbor Georgia.

Rovnaq Abdullaev announced the agreement with Georgia to submit a joint bid to soccer's world governing body, FIFA, which is currently holding a congress in Budapest.

Azerbaijan's top representative at that congress -- the general secretary of Azerbaijan's Football Federation, Elkhan Mamedov -- made a formal proposal on hosting the games.

The idea of Azerbaijan and Georgia co-hosting the Euro-2020 tournament was proposed by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in a speech to the Azerbaijani parliament in March.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax