A UEFA delegation has completed site visits to the three countries bidding to host UEFA EURO 2016 – Turkey, Italy and France. The three bidders officially submitted their candidatures to stage the 2016 final tournament in February.

The delegation, which visited Turkey first, followed by Italy and France, was headed by Gilberto Madaíl, chairman of the UEFA National Team Competitions Committee and member of the UEFA Executive Committee. The visits were undertaken as part of the technical analysis procedure which will culminate in the UEFA Executive Committee announcing its decision on the hosts in Geneva on 28 May (13.00CET).

During the visits, UEFA's representatives engaged in fruitful and positive talks with, among others, political leaders and government ministers from the three countries. In Turkey, there were discussions with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (prime minister), Faruk Nafiz Ozak (sports minister) and Binali Yildirim (transport minister), as well as with the mayors from candidate cities.

In Italy, talks took place with Gianni Letta, (undersecretary to the president of the council of ministers) and Rocco Crimi (sports minister), and the mayors of the candidate cities. In France, discussions were held with Nicolas Sarkozy (president), François Fillon (prime minister), Brice Hortefeux (interior minister), Roselyne Bachelot (health and sports minister) and Rama Yade (sports state secretary).

Technical workshops were organised in each country, in which open points were explained and clarified. The visiting officials were also able to gain an insight into government and city backing for the bids.

In the next steps, an evaluation report will be drawn up and made public on UEFA.com on 14 May. This report will be sent to the bidders, the UEFA National Team Competitions Committee and the UEFA Executive Committee.

On 26 May the National Team Competitions Committee will meet to finalise technical recommendations to the Executive Committee, and the key aspects of the bid and technical evaluations will be presented by National Team Competitions Committee delegates to the Executive Committee the following day.

On 28 May the bidders will make their final presentations to the Executive Committee, whose members will then deliberate and vote. In accordance with the regulations, UEFA president Michel Platini (France), Executive Committee first vice-president Şenes Erzik (Turkey) and Executive Committee member Giancarlo Abete (Italy) may not take part in the discussions and are not entitled to vote.