As the months whittle down towards the start of arguably the biggest football tournament of this summer, Euro 2020, tournament plans remains unclear. With less than 100 days to go until kick off, the tournaments organizers, UEFA are scrambling together a feasible plan, with the help of several national governments, to host the cross-country tournament. The usually single or duo hosted event takes an unusual turn this time around with the games spread out over 12 different countries as a way of marking the 60th edition of the tournament and also to reduce the costs associated with hosting. That decision, made nine years ago has come back to haunt UEFA who now face a logistical nightmare during a never ending horrific global pandemic.
Having been postponed a year from its original start date in June 2020, it is almost certain that the tournament will happen this summer. With the resumption of most of the sporting leagues across Europe, UEFA have clarified that the tournament will take place this summer between June 11 – July 11, 2021 and it will be played in multiple cities spread across Europe.
Euros are set to be hosted across 12 host cities namely:
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Baku (Azerbaijan)
- Bilbao (Spain)
- Bucharest (Romania)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Dublin (Republic of Ireland)
- Glasgow (Scotland)
- London (England)
- Munich (Germany)
- Rome (Italy)
- Saint Petersburg (Russia)
One of the key questions however is whether fans will be able to attend the games or not. With many of the sporting leagues playing with a very small faction of fans or behind closed doors, it’s likely that UEFA will permit some fans to be in the stadiums when the matches begin but to what level or capacity has still to be determined.
That caution is due to the continued pandemic that still has a tight strangle hold on most of Europe. The leagues have managed to operating successfully due to everyday testing and strict safety protocols to be followed by staff and players alike. But for an international tournament held in numerous cities and countries with high infection numbers, planning for the tournament has taken on a whole new level of complexity.
With varying degrees of virus infection rates and restrictions, UEFA has had to coordinate with 12 different governments to organize this tournament. Whilst the vaccines are offering hope, the current progress of the vaccinations in the European Union in the first quarter of 2021 is still below the expected estimation primarily due to vaccine producers (AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech) in EU prioritizing export of vaccines under the COVAX initiative. The EU top officials are rallying to curb exports to prioritize the vaccination of the European citizens to stem the tide of the disease.
Over the last two weeks France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Netherlands have seen yet another increase in the Covid-19 cases. This was followed by tightening of the restrictions in these countries which included essential travel and mandatory negative test reports for cross-country travel. UEFA are trying their utmost to include fans in the stadiums at least to fill 50% of the stadium but, they may downsize the venues prioritizing the cities with lower infection rates. The worst-case scenario could mean the games are played behind closed doors, something that would not please UEFA who had grander plans for celebrating the tournaments 60th anniversary.
Post by Subhash Narasimhan, Contributor to BOTN
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