Ivan Rakitić the competition. On 15 October 2008, he scored a brace in a 4–0 win at home to Andorra. On 5 September 2009, he scored the match-winning goal in a 1–0 win at home to Belarus. Croatia failed to qualify for the finals after finishing third in their group. After appearing in all of their Euro 2012 qualifiers, he was selected to be part of the Croatian squad at the Euro finals in Poland and Ukraine. Croatia were drawn in Group C together with Spain, Italy and the Republic of Ireland. Rakitić started in all three of Croatia group stage matches.
UEFA Euro 2020 is a "romantic" one-off event to celebrate the 60th "birthday" of the European Championship competition. The winner will earn the right to participate in the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup. Wembley Stadium in London is planned to host the semi-finals and final for the second time, having done so before at the 1996 tournament. While some countries had already expressed an interest in bidding to host Euro 2020,<ref name="Irish/Scottish/Welsh bid report"></ref> then-UEFA President Michel Platini suggested at a press conference on 30 June 2012, a day before the UEFA Euro 2012 Final, that instead of having one host country (or joint