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Football

27th Jan 2021

UEFA determined to play Euro 2020 across 12 nations despite pandemic

UEFA chief Aleksander Čeferin has reiterated his commitment to hosting Euro 2020 this summer across 12 nations as originally planned

Reuben Pinder

“I am optimistic that things are highly likely to be very different with regard to the virus”

UEFA has reiterated its intention to host Euro 2020 this summer across 12 different nations, despite ongoing concerns regarding Covid-19.

The tournament was originally supposed to take place last summer but was postponed due to the pandemic. It was expected that the plan to spread it across the continent would be banished and instead every game would be played in one country, with Russia, more specifically Moscow, being touted as a possible host location.

But today, Europe’s governing football body said: “Uefa officials today met representatives of the 12 host associations/organisers of Uefa Euro 2020, in a routine meeting to discuss operational matters relating to the tournament, which is to be staged in the summer.

“Uefa repeated its commitment to holding the Euro across the 12 cities according to the timetable that has already been published.”

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said: “I am optimistic that things are highly likely to be very different with regard to the virus as we move closer to the tournament and it is important that we give the host cities and governments as much time as we can to formulate an accurate picture of what will be possible.

“Fans are such a big part of what makes football special and that is true of the EURO as much as it is of any game. We must allow ourselves the maximum space to allow their return to the stadiums.”
The deadline for submission of plans to accommodate fans has now been moved to early April.