NYON, Switzerland (AP) UEFA kicked off the competition to host the 2016 European Championship when it set out a timetable for the bidding process yesterday.

Countries must enter the race by March 9, with joint bids accepted from two neighbours or, "in exceptional circumstances", three hosts for the 24-team tournament, UEFA's executive committee agreed.

The host will be chosen by executive members in May 2010.

"This is just opening the doors," UEFA general secretary David Taylor said. "We are saying, 'Here is the process, here is the timetable."'

The executive body meeting at UEFA headquarters chose Denmark to host the men's European under-21 Championship in 2011, in preference to Israel's bid.

It also approved a progress report on trials using five officials to monitor play, instead of a traditional team of three, at a series of international youth matches.

The 2016 championship will be expanded from the 16 nations contesting Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's competitions director, said nine stadiums with a minimum capacity of 30,000 would be needed with all likely to stage at least four matches.

"Nine we think is the right balance between the needs of the organization and the needs of the tournament," Marchetti said.

Countries will play in six groups of four teams. The top two from each group will advance to a last-16 knockout stage with the four best third-place teams. The tournament will feature 51 matches, up from 31.

The French national association has said it is interested in hosting the European Championship for the first time since 1984, when UEFA president Michel Platini captained the home team to victory.

The bid timetable allows the host six years to prepare for the tournament, one year more than Poland and Ukraine have in their troubled planning for Euro 2012.

UEFA was invited last March to run trials with five match officials by FIFA and its rule-making arm, the International Football Association Board (IFAB). They had rejected the use of video replays and goal-line technology in favor of keeping a human element in decision-making.

The fourth and fifth officials were positioned behind each goal and communicate with the referee and his assistants running the touchlines through headsets.

They were asked to spot fouls when players come together in front of goal before a free kick or corner, and help rule on whether the ball has crossed the goal line.

The trials took place at 18 qualifying games for the European under-19 Championship, which will be in Slovenia, Hungary and Cyprus.

The feedback from referees and players was positive, with the trial bringing praise for better decision-making and a deterrent effect, UEFA communications director William Gaillard said.

"Players tend to watch what they are doing because there is another pair of eyes," Gaillard said.

FIFA's executive committee will study the UEFA report when it meets Dec. 19-20 in Tokyo.

A decision on whether to introduce the five-official system rests with IFAB made up of representatives from FIFA and the football associations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales which is scheduled to meet in Belfast, Northern Ireland, next February.

The rule change could be introduced in the professional game as early as next July.

The French league has said it wants to trial five officials at its League Cup final in Paris next April.

In other news Thursday:

Israel was compensated for missing out on hosting the men's European under-21 Championship in 2011. It will stage the 2010 UEFA Congress, an annual gathering of the 53 member national associations. The 2009 Congress is held in Copenhagen, Denmark, next March.

UEFA has settled compensation claims with broadcasters who lost pictures for several minutes during the Euro 2008 semifinal between Germany and Turkey.

An electrical storm knocked out the signal from the broadcast center in Vienna, Austria, although the match was played in Basel, Switzerland.

"The slate is wiped clean," Taylor said. "We do not have legal cases and we have a settlement agreed by all concerned."

Terms of the compensation were not disclosed.

The format of the UEFA Women's Cup will be changed in the 2009-10 season. It will be renamed the UEFA Women's Champions League and a single game final will be played in the same week and same host city, though at a different stadium, as the Champions League final.