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UEFA president Michel Platini (former France team captain) made the announcement today that they were awarding the 2016 European Championships to France following a vote by the executive committee meeting in Geneva.

France received 7 of the 13 members votes in the second round of voting, with Turkey gaining 6 votes.

The French government has pledged to help guarantee the projected 1.7bn euro (£1.45bn) cost of building and renovating stadiums

The stadiums are in 12 cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne, Strasbourg and Toulouse. Only nine of the 12 would be used for matches with the others earmarked as back-ups.  New-builds would be in Nice, Bordeaux, Lyon and Lille; seven major stadium renovations.

The 2016 event will feature 24 countries for the first time, up from the 16 countries in Euro 2012, which is being co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland. The 24 countries will play 51 matches.

France's big moment came when Zinedine Zidane strode on stage to explain what hosting Euro 2016 would do for French football and the country's younger generation of players. Zidane, a three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, inspired France to winning the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 in Holland and Belgium.

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