Shared ground, divided histories: Euro 2028 and the politics of football in Britain and Ireland

Euro 2028 will be co-hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland across nine venues, after Northern Ireland lost its hosting role following the collapse of the Casement Park redevelopment in 2024. This article examines the tournament as a lens through which to read the long entanglement of football and politics across Britain and Ireland. Situated within the literature on nationalism and sports mega-events, particularly Maurice Roche’s account of mega-events as public culture, Jonathan Grix’s work on sport and soft power, and Michael Billig’s concept of banal nationalism, it traces key intersections of football and political conflict from the 1870s to the present, including partition, the Troubles, devolution, and Brexit. It argues that Euro 2028 constitutes a critical inflection point: a moment when longstanding tensions between and within these nations are concentrated and made newly visible through a singular sporting occasion.