Turkey pledges euro 920 mln for new stadiums if Euro 2016 football host

Turkish government pledged 920 million Euro, a vital financing for new stadiums to be built if Turkey is chosen to host Euro 2016 European Football Championship.

Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, adjoined a letter of guarantee, signed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to its application file which will be submitted February 15.

TFF picked nine stadiums in eight cities to host Euro 2016 matches. Ataturk Olympic Stadium and Seyrantepe Turk Telekom Arena, which is under construction, in Istanbul; and Kadir Has Stadium in Kayseri are the existing stadiums. Other stadiums planned to be built in Ankara, Izmir, Konya, Antalya, Bursa and Eskisehir would all be used in the tournament to be held in the summer of 2016.

TFF Chairman Mahmut Ozgener said Thursday that getting full political support was very important to show determination.

Government's pledge is of vital importance for the federation in its bid to host world's third largest sports event, Ozgener said in a statement posted in TFF website.

Turkey competes with France and Italy to host the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship after Swedish-Norwegian joint bid failed. The host country will be chosen in May 2010. Italy and France have both hosted the event twice.

Turkish government plans to make investments of 27.7 billion Euro to improve country's infrastructure, transportaion network, health and education system in the next five years.

/World Bulletin/