Euro 2028 MD Chris Bryant: Running major events in a new era of power politics

0:03Hello and welcome to another edition of the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast, the podcast about leaders in Sport from Leaders in Sport. My name is David Cushon. I'm the content director over here at Leaders. A very happy new year to you. Welcome to 2026. New year, big year ahead, World Cups, Winter Olympics, sport, deals, politics, investment, who knows what else. We'll be with you every step of the way here on the Worth Knowing podcast. And today, just me, but a conversation that I had with Chris Bryant, who is the Managing Director of UK and Ireland 2028 Limited, the local organising committee for UEFA Euro 2028, the Men's European Championships, happening in the UK and Ireland in a couple of years' time.

0:58Chris and his team based at Wembley Stadium, where he has been part of the Football Association's tournament team for nearly a decade, overseeing the Champions League final in 2024, key FA events like the FA Cup final, England games, NFL games at Wembley. He was also, though, the tournament director for the Wembley portion of Euro 2020. The COVID-affected men's tournament eventually played in 2021. That's where you'll remember games were played across Europe, but the semifinals and final were hosted at Wembley. And he also ran Euro 2022 across England, the women's tournament won, of course, by England's Lionesses.

1:41So he is completely across what it takes to run a major sports event, a major football tournament, and how to pace those preparations over several years, how to work effectively with all sorts of key stakeholders. In the case of Euro 2028, that includes several national football associations, several governments, and of course, UEFA itself. It's a good conversation with Chris, and you can hear it right now. Here's Chris Bryant, the MD of UK and Ireland 2028. Chris Bryant, Managing Director of UK and Ireland 2028 Limited. Limited, it's very good to have you with us as our first guest of the year on the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast.

2:26Yeah, brilliant. Pleasure to be here. Have you come up with a shortened version of UK and Ireland 2028 Limited yet internally? Yeah, we go with UKI most of the time. UKI, okay, good, good. Good to get that clear right from the off. Thanks for being with us. I guess you're moving into a busy year, aren't we all? Give us a sense, first of all, of your role, because you've been at the Football Association for a long time. Now you have this role that is focused squarely on delivery of Euro 2028. Tell us a little bit about the scope and scale of that. Yeah, so I've been at the Football Association for nearly 10 years now, but most recently moved to become Managing Director of UK and Ireland 2028.

3:07I mean, ultimately, UK and Ireland 2028 is the delivery vehicle, the local delivery vehicle that is charged with sort of oversight and local delivery of Euro 2028. So I guess, you know, with UKNI being a tournament that is across four football associations or five football associations as a wider partnership, multiple governments, we are the local delivery vehicle that are tasked with ensuring all stakeholders deliver all of their obligations and that we deliver kind of some of the key components of Euro. They're so interesting, I think, local organizing committees in that they sort of spring up from almost scratch.

3:41They, you know, they reach their peak just before whatever event it is. And then they sort of disappear and have to be sort of scaled down again. We're obviously two and a half years essentially away from match day one. And tell us a little bit about the growth so far of the organization and sort of where and how it sits, as you mentioned, amongst the various football associations that you're dealing with. Yeah. So, I mean, it's a, UConn Ireland's a, it's an independent company. So it's got its own board. It's chaired by the chair of the English FAW Hewitt, but it's a standalone company. We are based within Wembley Stadium.

4:19I mean, the company was formed, essentially. It started in March 2025. So we've been going just under a year now. But like I say, it was formed, essentially, to take on all the obligations that each football association had signed up. And instead of Scottish FA delivering in Scotland, or English delivering in England, we deliver on behalf of all the partners, working with all the governments. um we started out i guess with myself and about six or seven others and predominantly they were the directors of the company that we now have um you know a number of them have been working with myself on events with uefa for a number of years previously um over the last year we've ramped up we're now 35 people in the organization we'll be about 100 by the end of 2026 we're about 200 by the end of 27 and then we go to 700 so it's a quite a typical organizing committee growth trajectory that you'll be used to you know a lot of that comes at the very back end of of the event of the the timeline um but yeah we're in a good place off to a good start but a lot of hiring to do and tell us a little bit about uh some of the both visible and i guess less visible milestone moments so far you obviously just before christmas had uh the announcement about the the stadiums that will be in use for the tournament but tell us a little bit about what's been achieved so far as as 2026 kicks off yeah i mean i guess the journey really starts from being awarded the tournament back in i think it was october 2023 um really between kind of being awarded the tournament and then the company being set up in march 25 we sort of talk about that as the transition period ultimately um so we were doing other things in that window but really that was about sort of gearing up to set up a company you can imagine a tournament with multiple hosts multiple governments there's a lot of governance to kind of come about there's a lot of funding agreements to be signed there's a lot of kind of building blocks that we need to put in place so that really what took place in the transition phase and then since the company was started you know really we kind of had to make sure we've got all the the foundations in place your hr systems your finance systems we're ready to kind of build this team that needs to come and then since then it's i guess it's really been the foundations of not only the company but then working with UEFA on the foundations of the tournament so who's responsible for certain areas of delivery you know big piece of what we've been working on in the last year is the match schedule so ultimately what does the tournament shape really look like so it's a UEFA deliverable but we're very kind of heavily involved in the delivery of that building out the functions of the tournament so how is the organization going to shape up what's it kind of roles and responsibilities going to be so that that's really been kind of the the last year and like you say it kind of ended in the the tournament launch back in November 2025.

7:03So yeah, really, I think successful launch from our side, really happy, announced the match schedule, the venues, and a little bit more about the tournament. I want to come in and talk in a little bit more depth about some of those relationships between some of those key stakeholders and when those type of relationships work at their best. But maybe give us a sense of the next 12 months and in 2026, what has to go well for you? What are the milestone moments to ensure that 2028 is great yeah i mean i think i actually think 2028 is an incredibly important year for a successful tournament i'd sort of say this is the year where we we probably need to we've been building up the organization now we need to sort of build up the kind of delivery areas um we really need to focus on sort of our core areas so we think for uk and i we've got massive responsibility in kind of the mobility space massive responsibility in security in and around the tournament you know quite a big project in i guess what you traditionally call the legacy space what we kind of talk about is kind of community program social impact so there are three really fundamental areas um that this year is all about setting up what those areas look like agreeing kind of strategic partnerships working with partners to sort of put in the foundations for success i mean if you think about mobility the lead in time for what we'd want to seeing 28 really starts this year you know if we're talking about work embargoes on railway lines if we're asking for greater capacities if we're asking for you know kind of trained companies to work with us in different ways like the planning time for that is is now i think 2026 is also the year where sort of big milestone moments will be decided and that's some of those reside with uk and i so um and some of those reside with uefa so you know it's everything from a mascot design to a volunteer uniform.

8:49It's everything from a song and an artist that might come. It's where's the location of a final draw going to take place. All of that is decided in 2026. So strategically, a really, really important year is where decisions are made that then ultimately shape the next year and a half of planning and delivery. You've run major tournaments before and worked very closely with UEFA before on Euro 2022. the back end of Euro 2020 when Wembley was hosting the final stages of that tournament that was spread out all across Europe. With UEFA, with governing bodies, in your experience, when does the relationship between local organising committee and a central governing organising body like UEFA work at its best?

9:34What do you need to put in place to make sure that's a really strong and fruitful working relationship? Yeah, I think, I mean, I think sort of having clarity on roles and responsibilities is pretty fundamental um i think you know knowing what where we need to spend our time our focus knowing where kind of uefa will lead you know in responsibilities in strategic direction i think that's that's quite key so i think i've seen it work best when you're clear on what you're doing what they're doing and where we need to work together um i think i mean you know uefa are very hands-on sort of event owner ultimately they retain ownership of the event they are kind of the bigger delivery partner ultimately they control ticket prices they deal with commercial partners so i think you've got to sort of understand and respect you know what the event owners roles and responsibilities are but for us it's all about how do you add value to that process how do we make uk and ireland the event and tournament that we want it to be locally and then a big responsibility of us ultimately that we can do better than anybody else is work with local partners to make this tournament greater bigger better and sort of work locally for for us and i think that's a big part of our responsibility we've got those relationships we will be here before during and after and i think sort of working together and it is i can't stress enough the importance of partnership in these things having a good partner anyway for our a good good partner um if we can work well together we can deliver a great event and that my experience would say that's what is definitely possible i'm really interested in terms of what what you or the tournament that you've worked on previously that you feel you can learn the most from and are taking the most from as you go into this.

11:09Because as you've said, it's a very different type of tournament. You have far more stakeholders in that you've got four or five home nations who have a stake in this, football associations, governments, a lot more people at meetings potentially, a lot more people with an opinion, with a view. And I guess with their own metrics and their own measures of what success looks like ultimately. As you look back on tournaments you've worked on previously, you know, are there particular tournaments or particular parts of tournaments that jump out as being very relevant to what you're doing now? Yeah, definitely.

11:49I mean, it's sort of, I think, you know, through my career, you know, I think there's probably something I'd take from all of the events I've worked on that apply to 2028, I think. And I think you've got to keep in mind the sort of the situation that we're in you know i mean for example the women's euros in 2022 was quite unique and different for the fact that sort of ownership and a bit more we had a bit more influence in sort of the strategic setup of that tournament we were responsible for ticket sales for example in in women's euros whereas that will reside with uefa um you know i think to but but that was a really good example of the women's euros is we were really kind of keen to kind of push and go for more you know think a bit differently think bigger think better so i think you know whilst it's a different situation with the men's euros it's a much more established event it's a much more kind of mature market i still think that kind of strive for innovation that strive for kind of improvement going a bit different bit better i think it's something we definitely take from women's euros into the men's euros i think you know what euro 2020 that became 21 obviously was different in many ways i guess not only for the fact that i mean for uefa it was very complicated because they had like we have five i mean they had 12 i think back then um so i think there's a lot of learnings and lessons from that event in terms of the management of multi-stakeholders multi-partnership model i mean i'd go back i sort of feel like in the events i've worked on where i've seen progress and output be at its absolute best is through collaborative working partnerships you know kind of teams working together under a shared goal, shared ambition.

13:24And that's where you see the best output. And that's definitely what we'll take into 28. One of the elements that I imagine you're thinking about quite a lot is the, you know, quite obviously the fan engagement piece. And I think naturally in this country and across the home nations, the prospect of a home tournament, the entirety of the tournament on the men's side will be will sort of you know create a a world of its own in terms of momentum and excitement and I just wonder it's obviously 30 years since since Euro 96 which is probably the moment and I think we probably remember if we're of a certain age how that felt and how that went well beyond the the you know the football fan and became a true sort of national moment uh had true sort of cultural cut through as you sort of reflect on that i imagine that's a bit of a north star in terms of what you're hoping to achieve with euro 2028 i just wonder have you are you thinking through sort of the bits of that that you can control versus just being swept along with a great england scotland welsh team performance at the tournament yeah i mean look definitely i mean i think yeah you're right in saying that sort of another kind of objective of ours is to ensure all sort of um you know nations um you know host nations are put in the best possible place to sort of do well in this tournament i mean that's why everyone hosts tournament you know that home team advantage is key and that's as much as for england as for scotland for ireland and you know i guess you look at the match schedule and the way that's been designed that does help in in that respect and rightly so you know the hosts should be considered um you know kind of um in terms of how we we plan and manage the event i think i completely agree that and again my memory and recollection from 96 was that it's just this moment in time that sort of just swept everyone i think that's what major events have as one of the biggest sort of benefits for hosting a big event is the way they can galvanize a country be a moment in time i think football more than any other sport can actually achieve that as well i mean you see that when you're not even hosting it just when england are playing in a tournament so we're not sort of complacent to that what i think we're we're ensuring is that we're in the best possible place for when that happens if it does happen that you know this country will kind of kind of buy into this tournament be supportive of this tournament and everything that it stands for and so then kind of go along the journey with it like we can't necessarily make that happen but we can make sure that when it starts to happen we're in the best possible place for people to be involved you know and that might be fan zones it might be street parties it might be community programs but can we make sure as many people as possible feel part of euro so that when it's happening they feel like they're part of it and i think that's a big part of our objective and that's as much for the three million ticket holders as it is for the six million that might visit a fan zone as it is for the millions billions that will watch like our our job is to sort of make sure that's a part my other thing i'd say is my experience of working on rugby world cup where england didn't do so well you know we've also got to be prepared you know to deliver a great tournament that's sort of irrespective of how well host teams do that's I think your obligation as a tournament organizer we can't put all our eggs in the basket of you know England Scotland Ireland Wales progressing because they might not and what we still need this tournament to be a great success and so we look at it through all those lenses but yeah we want to be prepared for that momentum the opportunity.

16:46How will you watch the World Cup this summer given your particular role and I guess eye for operational challenges detail looking for things that are being done well looking for things that will go wrong will it completely ruin the way that you watch the World Cup as a football fan yeah I mean I doubt that I I mean I sort of I'm very excited for the World Cup obviously I mean and I you know it's great England and Scotland are already there you know sort of that's gonna be amazing you know let's hope um Ireland and Wales get there as well even Northern Ireland and I think yeah there'll be some of it that I think is relevant to us you know definitely it'll be relevant um there'll be some of it that probably isn't necessarily relevant you know the part of the tournament is very different it's not it's a much more spread out tournament it's got a very different sort of fan experience sort of element to it so yeah I'll definitely be looking at it a lens I mean of course you're always looking at all that signage looks good or you know I mean you know FIFA to be fair are very innovative you know you look at what they did at the club world cup so you know what are they going to be doing on the pitch what are they going to do in pre-match ceremonies i think every event every world cup every major event sort of starts to raise the bar so of course you're going to be looking at what are fifa doing i think you know every football major event is sort of the last benchmark of success and so we need to be mindful of what's the fan experience that was good and bad and therefore what's the expectation in 28 so yeah i mean i'll be excited i'll be curious i'll be all over it.

18:15It's pretty clear that there's going to be a political dimension to the World Cup as well in some shape or form. And we'll see how that plays out across the US in particular. And again, sport and politics sort of ever more intertwined. I think particularly football has the potential as a sport to, depending on what the topic of the moment is, to be sort of caught up and become a political football, sort of pun very much intended, and be used as a sort of tool for various causes. I just wonder, as you think about 2028, and maybe this is something that has changed over time, how much you're aware of that as the local organizing committee, how much you can put in place to try and, I suppose, mitigate any of the risks, any of the potential for whatever it might be and there's a thousand different things it could be the potential for it to ultimately cause damage to the tournament in some shape or form yeah I mean it's something very much sort of on our radar you know I mean I guess as as the local organizing committee you know we are responsible for the kind of working with the government the local elements that would be impacted probably more so from a kind of political fallout if it were so So, yeah, we absolutely are mindful of things that could happen politically that would impact that tournament.

19:37And that might be depending on, you know, who's participating in the tournament. That might be kind of on broader world events. That might be on sort of, you know, access to and from countries. You know, all these things that you see playing out, you know, and obviously FIFA and 2026 is seeing a lot of this already. That will be applicable to us as well. i mean our job is to be mindful of that to be aware of it to plan for it you know to have contingencies in place if and when those eventualities come but i think yeah are we alive to it definitely does it kind of come into our considerations and planning yeah it does how could it not and yeah we just need to kind of stay alive to all of it really you mentioned that you're you're ramping up um in terms of workforce um at the organizing committee tell us a little bit and give people listening who will be, you know, in the industry and maybe some of them thinking about potentially getting involved in some way in the tournament.

20:29What are the type of roles, early stage of 2026 that you're sort of hiring for or will be looking to hire over the next few months? Yeah, I mean, I think sort of twofold, really, there's, I think we're now moving into a phase where we're hiring quite a lot of project specific sort of roles, you know, so whether that's in specific functional areas, your mobility, your securities, the fan experience, volunteering. So we're probably in that stage now where we're really ramping up project specific areas. And so we're looking for people with specialisms or experience in those areas. I think kind of second element to that is we're really starting to build out the kind of support services to look after those functional areas.

21:09So we've built finance functions and HR functions and project management teams. Now we need to think about how those teams support, you know, those big delivery areas. And so operational roles, program management roles, finance, legal, all those roles are kind of ramping up, but a big focus on specialists, specialists areas. Interested to know how you think about other venues and actually where you look for inspiration, other events, other venues, maybe inside football, maybe outside football. We touched on the World Cup a bit. what are you looking for first of all and where where do you tend to find it i mean it's a really good question i mean i guess we are incredibly fortunate that we're dealing with nine you know kind of well-established fantastic venues for 2028 in eight brilliant cities so we start from a very high baseline of football experience major event experience so we are blessed in that respect we're not having to deal with construction some of the stadiums are going through kind of upgrades but we're not talking major kind of construction you know we're also blessed with the fact that all of our venues are already in use hosting big events so i think we start from a really solid base i think you've got to look amongst ourselves for kind of in the first port of call you know you look at wembley and all of the things that wembley has achieved over the years the experience it's had you know there are some things that have been achieved with wembley that are brilliant and that we want to sort of understand can that be taken through to the other eight um venues that would be relevant some are in different elements of delivery of that um you know it's safe to say zone x for example zone x planning is definitely something that's becoming more and more pertinent and something we need to get on top of wambi does a very good job of zone x planning there's some great best-in-class initiatives there that we can take to other venues potentially but every stadium is different as well it's sort of you know it's footprint its relationship with the city its location all very different i think when you go outside of of our venues and venues in this country i mean yeah you obviously look at other event owners you obviously look at what they're doing in america in particular and some of the fan experience-led initiatives they have in stadiums out there but again very different you know they've got open concourses they have different alcohol restrictions different sight line kind of um pressures so yeah look i think you're always looking into every new stadium you know uefa obviously a blessing looking across stadium in all 55 uefa nations as well um we'll look at the world cup we'll want to look at what they do in glasgow you know in 2026 so there's so many things that kind of you want to stay across i think we've got a great building um a great foundation with the stadiums we've got you know um and i think you know we're really hoping that the euros will support those stadiums and they're delivering there can be a legacy thereafter you know i can certainly say from experience wembley stadium is better off and you know in terms of its operation for having been part of delivering the the men's euros and the women's euros just from the fact that you have to work so closely with your local stakeholders and partners, it kind of galvanises you as a team, I think, better than anything else does.

24:10And I've seen firsthand how better off Wembley is for everything it's been through, good and bad, in delivering of major events in the last 10 years. And I think other venues will have that opportunity to kind of better themselves with its partners, stakeholders, delivery, you know, and that's the opportunity that 28 brings. Was that one of the big learnings from Euro 2020, particularly around the final, where there were obviously a lot of very well publicised challenges and obviously there was a there was a significant amount that i'm sure was learned and was taken and has since been uh applied um and obviously some some unique circumstances around that tournament uh as you as you suggested but presumably there's quite a lot that you can take from that yeah definitely i mean obviously we've we've been through you know significantly the sort of the the bareness casey sort of learnings of the euro final and you know there were learnings there from sort of working with partners and stakeholders to specific kind of you know physical infrastructure kind of improvements and then also the way you look at things i mean i mean look there's always learning i don't think galvanizing and working with stakeholders was an issue in 2020 everyone was around the table come euro 2020 final you know that that was not the issue um i also think as you know baron's case said it very much was a perfect storm i don't think we'll see those events happen again in the same way at the same moment in time but you know we're absolutely alive and attuned to the learnings of that day we've taken that forward you know obviously we then delivered the women's euros final we delivered the champions league final at Wembley in 2024 that took into consideration all of the learnings of that event and was successfully implemented but again there's always more that you can learn from these events and take forward but yeah of course like the events I mean you know we we hope that there is a home house nation final at Wembley in euro 2028 and we'll know that the kind of scrutiny at that time will be well the last time we were here was in 2021 um where obviously there was obviously a lot of um a lot of issues so yeah learning's absolutely paramount i think we're doing a good job in taking those learnings um and here we go from there just thinking beyond the stadiums and you touched on it earlier in terms of some of the work that you will presumably doing around about now to think about uh fan zones and what the, you know, outside of the stadiums and the stadium sites themselves, what those fan zones look like.

26:29And I just wonder, it strikes me that that feels like a major opportunity for all major event owners at the moment is thinking about, you know, I suppose that the traditional view of a fan zone is big screen in a park. That's a part of it, but it feels like there's an opportunity for them to be much more sort of, you know, physical, digital, immersive, true experiences. And I guess the other element is presumably there's a group of brand partners who will be part of the tournament as UEFA partners, as tournament partners, who are themselves becoming ever more demanding of tournament organizers, but also creative in their own rights about how they create experiences that really hit the mark for fans.

27:11So you can share all the details, all the secrets that you're planning if you like, but in general terms, that feels like a major opportunity yeah definitely i mean the sort of planning in our host cities it really is a massive part of the 2026 so we and i talked about those foundations you know host city planning and then starting to think about well where our fan zone is going to be what's the size kind of what's the offering to the fan is is fundamental i think you're right i mean again you look at the fan experience and this is very much a tournament for the fans 28 will be a tournament with fans at the heart of it and that's as true from ticket pricing as it is to kind of what's available to fans to how they travel but if you think fans will spend more time outside of a stadium than we'll be in a stadium it's their experience moving around cities it's their experience in the cities i think the first thing we've got to do is work with the cities to make sure the kind of they're aware of this and the workload and the opportunity that presents itself what works for one city is very different to another city and we've got to be mindful of that i think we do really want to put on a fantastic offering to fans i think it's super clear with the euro as well you look at germany they had sort of 2.7 million tickets but they talk about over six million people attending fan zones so this event will go much more beyond ticket holders and fan zones and activities within cities is a big part of the fan experience nowadays and so it's absolutely crucial yeah we are can we're working with cities to think about screenings live sites you know big part of euros as well is fans getting together congregating together before matches after matches potentially walking to stadiums and so a big part of our planning with the cities is starting to think about, well, how are we going to cater for fans in these cities?

28:46What's on offer? How do we support them? How do we look after them? How do we help their travel? Yeah, all of that is in train and a big part of delivery this year. Two final questions. One, I'm really interested just to know in your role specifically, at the moment, two and a half years out, what are the sorts of, I mean, it paints a picture of a sort of average week, and I'm sure you'll say there isn't anything like an average week, but what are the sort of key meetings that you're having at the moment? Who are you talking to? Where's your sort of specific focus within the bigger picture? Yeah, I mean, I think a big part of my job is sort of is leadership.

29:19Ultimately, I work with a fantastic sort of group of directors and a broader team. I couldn't speak more highly of the people that we've hired already, you know, and it's a fantastic team, fantastic culture. A big part of my job, I think, is to support that. So there's quite a few leadership meetings. um you know we've still got kind of the meetings around approvals and spend and governance so i spend quite a bit of time there and then it's really kind of into some of the operational specifics you know how do i help the team you know in host city planning or how do i help the team with sponsors a lot of it's working talking to uefa of course how do we start to share some of our ambitions and our plans with adidas for example and the sponsors that uefa are bringing to the table how do we how do we start thinking about that mobility planning journey you know who do we need to think about who do we need to partner with and a big part of my time is spent talking to stakeholders so you know that's governments that's the football associations um so yeah i probably no typical week but at the moment you know very much supporting the team supporting kind of um uefa and partners that's a big part of what i do and you don't necessarily have to tell us if you don't want to but is there one particular date in 2026 that you've got sort of marked on your calendar as the one that in your mind is the most exciting or the one you're really sort of looking towards as we sit here in deepest darkest January?

30:36I mean I guess for 2026 I mean there's always there's always milestones you know I think for us as an organizing committee as you can I we want to launch our community program in 2026 it'll be probably the largest ever community program you know associated with the Euro so I think we're really excited about what we can achieve there and that's our kind of our legacy you know how can this tournament impact more than simply football how can it kind of benefit beyond 51 football matches so everything we want to put around our social impact program our community program we want to launch that towards the back end of the year and then I guess ultimately you you really kind of get through the world cup and then the qualifying draw will take place at the end of the year so that's you know due to take place in Belfast um and that's gonna be a really exciting moment because I think once you get through the world cup you know from a men's football perspective all eyes um you know are on 2028.

31:25And so I think it becomes a bit more real for us at the end of year in December when we have the qualifying draw and really this sort of journey to 2028 starts for everybody. So yeah, I guess they would be the two moments I pick. Probably can't pick one and there are many others that will kind of come between now and then as well. But yeah, it's a really exciting year. Very important year. Indeed. Wish you the best with it all, Chris. And thanks ever so much for joining us. Brilliant. Thank you. Thanks for having me.