France appears favored in 3-nation race to host Euro 2016

GENEVA — France appears favored to host football's European Championship in 2016 after UEFA published evaluations of the three bidding nations.

UEFA praised France on Friday for creating a good long-term legacy plan in its bid dossier, which detailed plans to spend euro1.7 billion (US$2.1 billion) on building four stadiums and renovating seven more.

France is competing with Italy and Turkey for Euro 2016 hosting rights in a vote scheduled May 28.

UEFA marked down Italy because Rome's Olympic Stadium does not meet standards to host the final, and said the bid offered too few five-star hotels for teams and had unrealistic hopes for ticket sales.

UEFA said Turkey could create a new market for football but would struggle to transport and accommodate fans.