GENEVA (AP) — After a personal appeal by President Nicolas Sarkozy, France defeated Turkey and Italy on Friday for the right to host football's European Championship in 2016.
UEFA’s ruling executive voted 7-6 for the French bid over Turkey after Italy was eliminated in a first-round points ballot. France will be the first country to host the championship three times.
The result was announced by UEFA’s French president Michel Platini, who captained his country to the European title in 1984 on home soil. Platini did not vote.
The close-fought victory came after Sarkozy and former France star Zinedine Zidane supported their country’s case in the final presentations.
"We are very happy, very honored," Sarkozy said. "We will make our best efforts so that the 24 countries are received wonderfully in France."
Sarkozy said the French government would help guarantee the projected €1.7 billion ($2.1 billion) cost of building and renovating stadiums.
"The French state is here to support and guarantee that everything we have said, we will live up to," Sarkozy said.
The head of the French Football Federation, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, thanked UEFA for its confidence.
"This is a beautiful day for us," he said. "I can assure you that this trust will not be betrayed."
France’s star appeal appeared decisive against a Turkey bid team which has now lost three straight Euro bidding contests.
Turkey brought its own head of state, President Abdullah Gul, as it sought to secure its first major football tournament.
"We all did our best," Gul said. "We are saddened that it was lost by one point."
Gul had called on UEFA to take a "historic decision" and help bring Turkey, which has a Muslim majority, closer to the heart of Europe.
Italy, which hosted the Euros in 1968 and ’80, lost for a second consecutive vote. It was the outsider this time, after going in as the favorite and losing to the joint bid from Poland and Ukraine for Euro 2012.
Platini praised the three "exceptional" candidates.
"I’m very friendly with the Turks, my name is Italian, and I made my whole career in France. So it’s complicated," Platini said. "The UEFA executive committee showed it was a real democracy. If it wasn’t, the result would have been completely different."
The 2016 championship will be the biggest yet, adding eight more countries for a 24-team field playing 51 matches over one month.
The final will be played in Paris’ Stade de France, which hosted the 1998 World Cup final won by the Zidane-inspired host nation.
France staged the inaugural four-team European finals in 1960, and the eight-nation finals in ’84.
The French bid focused on creating family-friendly stadiums as a legacy for future generations. The domestic game also has been troubled with outbreaks of fan hooliganism this season.
Sarkozy said he wanted the Euros to help French football be "free of the cancer of violence, a football with a human face and a football that is a festival and a party."
France will choose nine stadiums from a pool of 12, including new venues in Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Nice; major renovations in Marseille and Strasbourg; as well as upgrades to existing arenas in Lens, Nancy, St. Etienne, Toulouse and Paris’ Parc Des Princes. The project calls for €662 million ($820 million) in public funding.
Zidane spoke of being a young fan in the Marseille stadium watching Platini’s extra time goal carry France past Portugal in a classic semifinal in 1984.
"That is the type of experience I want to live again," Zidane said. "This is what I would like to give my children."
