Official: The complete schedule of the 2028 European Cup has been confirmed, with three kick-off times at 9 p.m., 0 a.m. and 3 a.m.

November 13th UEFA officially confirmed the complete schedule of the 2028 European Cup today. This event will be hosted by the four co-host countries, with a total of 51 games held in eight cities and nine venues in the four countries.

Kick-off time and play-off mechanism

The event has confirmed that the three kick-off times (corresponding to Central European Summer Time CEST15:00, 18:00, 21:00) will be converted to the early morning of the next day, specifically:

21:00 (corresponding to CEST15:00)

The next day 00:00 (corresponding to CEST18:00)

03:00 the next day (corresponding to CEST21:00)

The final will be held at 00:00 on July 10, 2028 (Monday) (18:00 Central European Summer Time/17:00 on July 9, London local time) at Wembley Stadium. The specific schedule for each match day will be announced after the 2027 main draw.

The competition has three kick-off times (15:00, 18:00, 21:00 Central European Summer Time), and the final will be held at 17:00 local time (18:00 Central European Summer Time). The specific schedule will be announced after the draw for the 2027 main draw. Since the draw is completed before the play-offs, the teams that advance from the play-offs will be assigned to the groups in a placeholder format.

List of host countries and venues

This event is jointly hosted by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The nine host stadiums include:

Cardiff, Wales: National Stadium

Dublin, Ireland: Dublin Arena

Glasgow, Scotland: Hampden Park

Newcastle, England: St. James' Park

Manchester: Manchester United City Stadium

Liverpool: Everton Stadium

Birmingham: Villa Park

London: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

London: Wembley Stadium

To facilitate local fans to watch the game, each stadium will host at least two games from different groups.

Opening match and knockout arrangements

The opening match is scheduled to be held at the Cardiff National Stadium on June 9, 2028 (Friday), and will be the Group A group stage.

The 1/8 finals will be played in eight stadiums except Wembley, and the four quarter-finals are distributed in Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow and Wembley. To ensure fairness, teams that advance to the quarter-finals will compete in different venues.

Final Week Schedule

The final week will all be held at Wembley Stadium in London: the two semi-finals will be held on July 4 (Tuesday) and July 5 (Wednesday) respectively, and the final is scheduled to kick off on July 9 (Sunday).

Competition format and host privileges

The competition continues the 24-team format since 2016. The top two teams in the group and the four best third-placed teams advance to the top 16. Since then, a single-game elimination system has been adopted.

New "host group" rules for this session: If they advance directly, the five host teams (including Northern Ireland) will compete in the group stage at the preset venues:

England: Manchester City Stadium (1 game), Wembley (2 games)

Northern Ireland: Tottenham Stadium (1 game), Villa Park (1 game), Wembley (1 game)

Ireland: Dublin Arena (3 games)

Scotland: Hampden Park (3 games)

Wales: Cardiff National Stadium (3 games)