Nyon. Four host cities of the European Football Championship (June 11th to July 11th) are currently in question. As the European Football Union announced on Friday, the organizers include Munich, Bilbao, Dublin and Rome, who have to submit “additional information” by April 19 so that the games can be held. They wobble because – unlike the other eight EM cities – because of the corona situation, they have not yet made a specific commitment to the audience question.
UEFA listed London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Budapest, Bucharest, St. Petersburg and Baku with various information on the possible occupancy rates of the stadiums. Hungary even wants to allow games to be played in front of a full house in Budapest. After the deadline on April 19, UEFA will decide on the staging of the planned matches at the locations.
The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) can currently advance its plans unchanged. The venues of the ÖFB team in the group stage, Bucharest and Amsterdam, seem to be secured at the moment.
The Allianz Arena in Munich will host three group matches for the German national team against world champions France (June 15), European champions Portugal (June 19) and Hungary (June 23) as well as a quarter-finals (July 2). The European Championship is to be opened in Rome on June 11th, and the Spaniards will play their group matches in Bilbao. None of the three cities in these major football countries have ruled out games with spectators, but at least eight others are likely to have drawn much more concrete – and more optimistic – scenarios.
According to the umbrella organization, St. Petersburg and Baku have guaranteed a capacity utilization of 50 percent, and the trend is rising in Russia. From other cities it was said that at least 25 to 33 percent of the stadium seats could be occupied. Possibly with fans from abroad.
“Fans who want to travel to the host countries for the matches are faced with frequent changes to the travel restrictions,” wrote UEFA on Friday, listing all kinds of restrictions. “You have to adhere to the applicable travel restrictions and entry regulations.”
There will be no exceptions for ticket holders in nine host countries. In Baku, Budapest and St. Petersburg, on the other hand, “special procedures are being developed to exempt viewers from entry bans or quarantine regulations.” If the number of tickets already sold exceeds the seating capacity, UEFA said, “a raffle will take place to determine which tickets must be canceled”.
