The continent’s premier football event has only once been held in Scandinavia when Sweden were hosts in 1992 but in those days only eight teams were involved whereas in 2016 it will be 24 teams.

“Neither Norway nor Sweden can organize by themselves these days a European football championships, so it is only natural that we join our forces,” said the present of the Swedish Football Federation Lars-Åke Lagrell.

Candidates for the competition have until March 9 to submit their letter of intention to European football’s ruling body UEFA.

“We work very well together and have made solid preparations for our statement of interest. During the time we’ve been working together we’ve become more and more enthusiastic about the idea of holding a football celebration for the ages on home turf in 2016,” said Lagrell and his Norwegian counterpart Sondre Kåfjord in a joint statement.

France have already announced their interest in hosting the event for the first time since 1984 while Scotland is considering a joint bid with Wales and Northern Ireland.

The 2012 European Championship will be held jointly by Poland and Ukraine.