Turkey
France has officially submitted a bid for the right to host the 2016 European Championship.
French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escallettes made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday.
The French are expected to be joined in the battle to stage the event by Italy, Turkey and a collaboration between Norway and Sweden.
Wales and Scotland were initially keen on a joint venture, but have withdrawn their interest due to the global economic downturn.
All nations wishing to compete for the right to stage the tournament must inform Uefa of their intentions before 9th March.
Those countries that are clear to proceed with their bids will be informed on 1st April, with a final decision on who will host the event set to be made in May 2010.
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Both France (1998) and Italy (1990) have staged the World Cup in recent times, while Italy missed out to Poland and Ukraine for the right to stage Euro 2012.
Despite both countries being expected to make individual moves for the 2016 event, French secretary for sport Bernard Laporte has suggested that a joint bid from the two nations could be a possibility if it were to strengthen their cause.
Laporte told L'Equipe: "It's the federation who will decide and it will do what it wants. But me, I prefer to share and to win.
"I hear people speaking of this idea of a joint organisation and we will talk about it during our meeting (with his Italian counterpart).
"The ideal thing would be to go it alone but if an association is the price to pay and if we can't do anything else, I would not put any obstacles in front of it."
