Germany lodges bid to host 2024 European football championships

The logo of the German Football Federation DFB is pictured in Frankfurt / Main, on June 2, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Germany handed in its formal bid to host the 2024 European football championships on Tuesday, firing the gun on a race with the only other contender Turkey.

German Football Federation president Reinhard Grindel was accompanied by Germany's 2014 World Cup-winning captain Philipp Lahm, the bid ambassador, when the papers were handed in at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.

The now-retired Lahm said: "I played in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and I'm sure that we will once again feel that great enthusiasm and create a new spirit of solidarity at Euro 2024.

"We are a cosmopolitan organizer and we have modern stadiums and good infrastructure. Football is at home in our country."

Turkish officials are expected to lodge their bid on Thursday.

The host nation will be chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on September 27.

Germany last hosted a Euro in 1988 when the country was still divided into East and West. The Netherlands beat the Soviet Union 2-0 in the final.

The next Euro, in 2020, will take place in 12 cities across Europe.