For a long time, a joint application from Great Britain and Ireland was the only one received for the European Championship 2028. But at the last minute - Wednesday marked the European Football Association's (UEFA) deadline - first Turkey and then also Russia showed interest.
As for the championship four years later, Italy and Russia are the only candidates at the moment.
- We must take the opportunity to arrange the European Championships.
It will be played at the World Cup arenas and we have the infrastructure in place, says Alexander Djukov, chairman of the Russian Football Association, to Russian Match TV.
The World Cup was played in Russia in 2018, and the idea is that the same arenas can be used in a possible European Championship.
However, getting through such an application is in principle impossible.
Football, like many sports, has imposed strong sanctions on Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian clubs and national teams were thrown out a few weeks ago from competitions organized by Uefa and Fifa (International Football Association).
Among other things, this has led to the Russian men's national team being thrown out of the ongoing World Cup playoffs, and to Russia's women's national team, as it looks, being eliminated from this summer's European Championships.
However, the Russian Football Federation has not been excluded from Uefa, which makes the application possible.
Uefa will now process the expressions of interest and on 5 April the official candidate countries will be announced.
The host nations will be presented in September 2023.