Germany yesterday won the right to stage the tournament, beating Turkey in a straight vote by Uefa’s executive committee in Nyon.

Three-time winners of the competition, Germany hosted the event in 1988 and have also staged the 1974 and 2006 World Cups.

“A tournament like this is exceptional for our country,” Germany’s World Cup-winning manager Low said.

“It’s a good step for the next few years, and everyone in the association can now plan ahead for it.

“Such a tournament can really motivate younger players as well.”

This is Turkey’s fourth defeat in the last five Euro bidding races and they had been hoping to mark the republic’s 100th anniversary in 2024 by staging their first major international football tournament.

But while Germany’s hotel stock, stadiums and transport infrastructure are all in place and of high quality, Turkey’s bid was marked down for needing to upgrade airports, railways, roads and stadiums, particularly at a time when their economy is struggling.

The country’s poor human rights record was also flagged up by a Uefa evaluation report.

“I feel the great anticipation and am mightily relieved,” said Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning captain Philipp Lahm.

“We’ve done a lot of preparation, and we want to share this and get everyone involved.”

With German federation president Reinhard Grindel and the Turkish federation’s vice-chairman Servet Yardimci ineligible to vote and Denmark’s Lars-Christer Olsson unwell, the decision was made by the 17 remaining members of the UEFA ExCo.

Germany won by 12 votes to four with one vote invalid.