Switzerland pulls out of Euro 2020 hosting race

BERNE (Reuters) - Switzerland has pulled out of the race to host matches at Euro 2020, which will be staged in 13 venues around the continent, the Swiss football federation (SFV) said on Friday.

The Swiss, who had put forward Basel as their proposed venue, co-hosted Euro 2008 with Austria and said they thought this would reduce their chances of being awarded games.

"We felt that countries which have hosted the European Championship in the last 12 years had, at the very best, a very slight chance of being considered for Euro 2020," said SFV president Peter Gilleron in a statement.

"We didn't want to spend unnecessary money on the Swiss/Basel candidacy and put a lot of wasted effort into specific projects," added SFV general secretary Alex Miescher.

In a radical departure from traditional formats, European soccer's governing body UEFA decided last year to spread the 2020 tournament around its member associations to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship.

Switzerland was among 32 countries who announced in September their intention to bid, although Turkey also announced on Friday it had withdrawn from the race to host matches at Euro 2020 and would instead bid to stage the Euro 2024 tournament.

Friday was the deadline for candidates to hand in their bid dossiers to UEFA.

(Reporting by Brian Homewood; editing by Ken Ferris)