Chairman David Sheepshanks says that Portman Road could be considered as one of the grounds used in the 2007 European U21 Championship if the FA is successful in its bid to host the tournament.

Sheepshanks says the club's history of hosting international matches should give Town a good chance of being handed a game: "Given the good performance of the club when hosting the full international here, I know that we are one of the grounds under consideration.

"But as I have a vested interest I will not be party to the decision as to which grounds will be selected."

Town hosted the full England side in August 2003 when they defeated Croatia 3-1 in a friendly.

Portman Road has also been the venue for international football at lower levels, with England U21 matches against Switzerland (1980, 5-0), Romania (1985, 3-0), Albania (1989, 2-0) and the Czech Republic (1998, 0-1) all proving popular. An U23 match against Switzerland was staged in 1972.

In 2001/02, the England U19s beat Germany 3-1. The ground also played host to a 1959 pre-Olympic Games friendly between Great Britain and the Caribbean FA ahead of the 1960 Games in Rome.

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