Euro 2028 'opportunity of a lifetime' says Michelle O'Neill

Conrad Kirkwood and Patrick Nelson of the Irish Football Association (IFA) with Northern Ireland youth international Christopher Atherton at the Euro 28 announcement in Switzerland

Confirmation that the UK and Ireland will jointly host Euro 2028 presents "an opportunity of a lifetime", Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill has said.

The joint bid ran unopposed after Turkey withdrew to focus on a bid with Italy for Euro 2032.

Neither Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland have ever hosted a major football tournament.

Matches are to be held at 10 different grounds, including Belfast's Casement Park which has to be upgraded.

The proposed redevelopment will include a 34,500-capacity stadium after initial plans for a 38,000-seater were rejected.

However, it has been hindered by a number of setbacks since first being suggested about a decade ago, including long-running legal challenges.

Work on building it has yet to begin but it is hoped it will be ready a year before the tournament begins.

The BBC believes Casement could host five matches.

"The hosting of this prestigious tournament will help create jobs, strengthen the economy and showcase everything that makes our island and people amazing," Sinn Féin deputy leader Ms O'Neill said.

"This is a unique opportunity to unite communities and bring people together from across the political divide and from across these two islands using the power of sport.

"It is now time to move forward to build Casement Park to ensure we have another first-class, state of the art sporting facility for Ulster Gaels, and to host major games like this."

The view from west Belfast

Ciaran, who was getting his hair cut at a local barbers, said he was ready to see any game with any team playing

People living near Casement Park gave a mixed reaction to the announcement when they spoke to the BBC on Tuesday.

"For this big tournament to come over here - it's unbelievable, it's class," Ciaran McConville said.

He added he would be there to watch any game, no matter who was playing.

But Nora Livery thought having a big stadium like Casement Park would cause issues for residents.

"It would be a nightmare, just too busy - unless they do underground parking - I know it is good for businesses but there's pros and cons," she said.

Paul Bradley said he was pleased and that the announcement would push forward the building of Casement Park:

"It's wonderful - I think it's going to now, until this was declared I was still worried and concerned whether it would ever happen but I think this is it now," he said.

'Fantastic sporting legacy'

Justin McNulty, the sports spokesperson for the Social and Democratic Labour Party said the tournament would "attract fans from all over the world to Belfast and our island, bringing a large boost to our economy and will build a fantastic sporting legacy that everyone can be proud of".

Alliance Party sports spokesman David Honeyford said his party was pleased by the success of the UK and Ireland bid, which he called "the biggest international sporting event ever to come to the region".

Mr Honeyford said the redevelopment of Casement Park had to be prioritised and should "proceed immediately".

He said the focus must now turn to getting the redevelopment of Casement Park completed.

"The secretary of state has said the British government will find the money for the redevelopment of the stadium and the Irish government have offered to help finance the project," he said.

"The political will is there and we need to get everyone around a table to hammer out the details so that work can commence at Casement without delay."

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Traditional Unionist Voice councillor Ron McDowell welcomed confirmation of the UK and Irish bid, but said "the decision to fund the redevelopment of Casement with a blank cheque from the taxpayer is wrong."

He added: "No more public money should go to a project which was ill conceived from the outset, running massively overbudget and encountering significant opposition from local residents."

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar said he was "over the moon" that Ireland and the UK would co-host the tournament.

"It will be the biggest event ever hosted by our two islands working together," he said.

Qualification for all five host nations is not guaranteed.

In its bid guidelines, Uefa said: "In case of more than two joint-host associations, the automatic qualification of all the host teams cannot be guaranteed and shall be subject to a decision to be made in conjunction with decisions concerning the qualifying competition."