Scottish FA exploring redevelopment of Hampden Park as part of Scotland’s joint-bid to host Euro 2028

Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell has revealed Hampden Park could be redeveloped as part of the ambitious joint-bid to host Euro 2028.

Football associations across Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland have launched a combined bid to host the tournament.

It was confirmed on Monday that the SFA is working on the bid following an extensive “feasibility study”.

Maxwell claims if the bid is successful then developments of the national stadium can be made as he opened up on future discussions with the Scottish Government.

The SFA took ownership of Hampden from League Two side Queen’s Park 18 months ago and played host to a handful of delayed Euro 2020 matches last year, including two of Scotland’s group stage fixtures against Czech Republic and Croatia.

Maxwell reckons helping host another major tournament will continue to grow and develop the game in Scotland.

Speaking after the announcement of the joint-bid, Maxwell explained: “The stadium piece is an important one for us, there’s no doubt about that, and we need to look at exactly what hosting a Euro in 2028 can bring in terms of the development of Hampden.

“We are very much focused on developing Hampden and we need to engage with the Scottish Government primarily to see what hosting a Euro can help with in that regard.

“Obviously we hosted matches in 2021 and were fortunate enough to be part of the tournament, and the impact that we saw on the game in this country was huge.

“We engaged with a significant number of Scots that weren’t really engaged with the national team before and weren’t really engaged much with football.

“All five national associations and the rest of Europe want the game to grow and develop and, our experience tells us, there is no better way to do that than to host a major event such as this and to reap the benefits from being involved.

“Obviously we all want to qualify and that will have a massive part to play as well but the benefit that we saw from being at our first tournament for a long, long time absolutely reinforces the desire and the benefits that can come from doing these events.”