New report says Euro 2028 to come to St James' Park regardless of Newcastle United's stadium plans

Newcastle United's St James' Park had been selected as one of the grounds to be used when England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland host the European Championships in 2028.

While talks are still ongoing over what the PIF plans to do with St James' Park, whether to expand the current stadium or build a brand new one on the land adjacent to the existing site, the fact that Newcastle is set to be a host city for Euro 2028 threw up some big questions.

It seemed very unlikely that any works that were given the green light would be completed by 2028. When you consider that Manchester United are ahead with their planning, they've earmarked 2030 for their circus tent.

Even if they were able to fast-track everything and get a brand new stadium built in time for the Summer of 2028, new grounds have to have been operational for six months before they can be used to host international tournaments, so they'd actually have to have the stadium built and operational by the start of 2028. An impossible task.

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Euro 2028 is still coming to Newcastle according to Craig Hope

Another issue has been that for the longest time, it was expected that a new-build stadium at Leazes Park would in fact overlap the current stadium's footprint, meaning that the Leazes End would have to be torn down to accommodate the new build, meaning that by the time the Euro's rolled around, St James' Park would be a partial building site.

Fortunately, the latest plans suggest that a new stadium would not overlap St James' Park meaning that the new site will be removed from the current stadium

As such, Craig Hope has now written for his Newcastle Confidential column that St James' Park will still host games for Euro 2028 regardless of the new stadium.

A St James' Park revamp seems unlikely given this news

While Hope reported that the club are leaning towards the new build and not an expansion of St James' Park, this story makes sense.

However, there have been contrary reports that no decision has been made yet, so we have to imagine that should the PIF opt to upgrade St James' Park, that would effect Euro 2028.

Or they could hold off the work until after the tournament, pushing everything pack even further. Let's just hope Hope is right. This is starting to drag on a bit.