UEFA announced on Tuesday it had received four bids to stage the Euro 2016 championships by Monday's deadline. They are France, Italy, Turkey and a joint bid from Sweden and Norway

European football's governing body will next examine the submitted details of the bids to confirm which are eligible to go forward to the next stage.

UEFA's executive committee will take a final decision on or about May 27, 2010. The 2012 tournament will be held jointly by Poland and Ukraine.

The 2016 championships will see the number of teams increased from 16 to 24, a move which contributed to the decision of Scotland and Wales to end their interest in staging a joint bid.

Italy, which last held the European championships in 1980 and France, the hosts in 1984, will likely start the next phase of the campaign as favourites with Turkey hoping to convince UEFA to take the competition into new territory.

Norway and Sweden joined forces after recognising that neither country would be able to launch a solo bid with 24 teams taking part.