Turkey has lodged a bid to host the 2020 European football championships, the Turkish Football Federation announced, citing infrastructure improvements.

Turkey on Tuesday lodged an official bid with UEFA to host the 2020 European football championships, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) announced.

"Today we sent our candidacy file to host the European football championships ... to UEFA headquarters," Yildirim Demiroren, president of the TFF, said in a statement posted on the federation's website.

In March, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged UEFA to award his country the right to host Euro 2020, citing improvements in infrastructure as well as Turkey's love of football and its sizeable young population.

Turkey lost the bid to host Euro 2016, which was awarded to France.

And UEFA member countries now have until May 15 to officially lodge their bid to host the 2020 edition.

So far almost a dozen countries said they would be interested in hosting the championships, but no other formal applications have been made.

A final decision on the host nation will be announced in late 2013, or early 2014.