The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has confirmed it is holding talks with its Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts about the possibility of co-hosting the 2016 European Championships.

Scotland's dream of staging the tournament in eight years' time appeared to have ended in September when Uefa announced they were increasing the number of finalists from 16 to 24. The country lacks the infrastructure to host an expanded tournament but the SFA are looking to link up with one of their near neighbours in the hope a joint bid will be successful.

"As we've always said, we would love to host the European Championships in Scotland," an SFA spokesman said. "However, we realise it's a huge undertaking and, as far as 2016 goes, we simply couldn't host it by ourselves.

"We're meeting with the other Home Nations at the International Football Association board meeting in Belfast in February. I'm sure it's something we'll discuss. If there was a feeling that a bid was a possibility, we would then commission a feasibility study."

David Taylor, the Uefa general secretary, insisted Scotland would be a great place to hold the tournament.

"It would be terrific. But I must be careful here," he said. "My enthusiasm for and advice to any country could be perceived in the wrong way. Many countries in Uefa are capable of hosting the tournament."

Gordon Smith, the SFA chief executive, had lobbied for the expansion of the tournament because it would improve Scotland's chances of qualification, despite admitting it would rule his country out of bidding individually for future tournaments

Talks between the SFA and the Football Association of Wales (FAW) over a joint bid have been mooted for more than a year, with the FAW revealing in April 2007 they hoped to enter into discussions. But today an FAW official has admitted "very tentative" discussions have been ongoing for some time, adding: "We are interested in the idea and it's a question of where it goes from there."