UEFA EURO 2028 - impacts and legacy: equality impact assessment

Background

EURO 2028 will be hosted across the UK & Ireland. The Scottish Government is a principal funder of EURO 2028, not the event owner. EURO 2028 will be delivered by a partnership of multiple organisations across the UK and Ireland, in association with the tournament owners, UEFA. Work with football partners and UEFA is supported by a special purpose vehicle “UK and Ireland 2028 Ltd” which was launched in April 2025.

A number of different workstreams are required to deliver EURO 2028. The purpose of this workstream is to develop and implement an impact and legacy programme aligned to EURO 2028. The programme will seek to achieve positive socio-economic impact in Scotland before, during and after the event. High level legacy ambitions have been informed and agreed by an impact and legacy Working Group comprising the five government partners, five football associations and UK Sport.

The Scottish Government has a dedicated impact and legacy budget and is responsible for overseeing the design and delivery of the impact and legacy programme. We will collaborate with a range of partners to design and deliver the impact and legacy programme in Scotland. Core impact and legacy activity in Scotland will be delivered by a dedicated impact and legacy delivery partner, or partners, who are yet to be appointed. There will also be consideration to areas of collaboration which can be delivered across the UK and Ireland partnership.

The primary audience of impact and legacy is expected to be those who are interested or engaged in football (in the broadest sense), but it is expected that wider society will also benefit through the proposed activity. In most cases, this audience will be best reached through pre-existing networks and structures of the programme delivery partners and local stakeholders.

Following consultation with stakeholders, we intend to apply a community led approach to the impact and legacy programme. This approach will empower communities to design and deliver activities linked to strategic missions (missions to be announced by partners in due course) that best suit their needs. This may mean a diverse range of programme activity and varied target audiences between different locations and communities. Indicative programme activity includes but is not limited to increasing participation in physical activity, particularly for women and girls, people with disabilities and teenagers, boosting Scotland’s international profile, and supporting jobs and skills development in the events sector.

Specific initiatives in Scotland could contribute to National Outcomes in Children and Young People, Communities, Economy, Education, Health, International, and Poverty. Furthermore, impact and legacy activities will likely have an influence or cross-over activity with wider benefit realisation and policy development in Scotland.