Turkey is hoping Wednesday's Uefa Cup final can showcase the country as a possible host of a future European Championship.

The game between Shaktar Donestsk and Werder Bremen will be watched around Europe, and is the second time a European final has been held in Istanbul after the memorable 2005 Champions League final when Liverpool came back from three goals down to defeat AC Milan.

Officials from the Turkish Football Association are hopeful the willingness of Uefa to award these one-off games can be turned into a similar decision when it comes to deciding where to stage Euro 2016.

"We consider holding the Uefa Cup final as another important milestone for Turkey and the Turkish FA, who are eager to host Euro 2016," the Turkish Football Association president Mahmut Ozgener said.

"The Turkish Football Association gained a lot of experience from organizing the 2005 Uefa Champions League final in Istanbul."

Istanbul is not without its problems though. Many supporters did not make it to the Ataturk Stadium for the 2005 final due to traffic congestion, while there were reports of forged tickets.

More memorably for English football fans, two Leeds United supporters were killed in 2000 ahead of a Uefa Cup semi-final tie with Galatasaray.

Italy, France and a joint Norway-Sweden bid are also expected for the tournament.