France won the right to stage the tournament in May 2010 after defeating rival bids from Turkey and Italy. Euro 2016 is set to become a landmark event for European football’s governing body as it will be the first to include 24 teams, rising from 16 for Euro 2012.
“It was a courtesy visit to say that things are going well,” Platini told AFP after a 40-minute meeting with Fillon at a hotel in Paris. “Everything's fine. We have good contacts with all the organs of state and things are progressing well. There are no worries and even if there was a problem, we'd call each other.”
In May, the French Football Federation (FFF) unveiled the nine cities that would stage games during Euro 2016. Saint-Etienne and Toulouse had been the major losers in the announcement, with the two cities having been omitted from the list and instead named as reserve locations. Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris and Saint-Denis were selected, as was Lyon, whose stadium will be one of four new facilities built for the tournament, in addition to Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.
However, both Saint-Etienne and Toulouse have since been granted full host city status meaning Euro 2016 will take place in 11 stadia spread across 10 French cities. “(Fillon) was happy to have someone in his office saying that everything was going well,” joked Platini. “It must make a nice change.”
