Britain has offered to host this summer’s European Championships according to The Times. With numbers of vaccinations rising, and hospitalisations and deaths falling, the UK could be one of the first European countries to allow spectators back into stadiums.
Government Indicated to UEFA Possibility of Hosting Euros 2020 in UK
Wembley Already Set to Host Semi-Finals and Final
Plans for this summer’s Euros to be held in 12 cities across Europe may be scrapped, with reports claiming the British government have offered to host the competition.
Original plans for last year’s competition – postponed until this summer but to retain its title – had Wembley Stadium as hosting the semi-finals and final. Scotland’s Hampden Park is also to host some matches.
But The Times claim that football fans could return to stadiums by the end of May and that the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, has indicated to UEFA that fans will be back faster than most of Europe.
They say that the government would respond “positively” if asked to host more games for the 2020 Euros within the UK.
Ministers met earlier this week to discuss how to implement an increase in mass lateral flow testing, which they hope would allow crowds to return by late May.
On Friday (February 19), the mayor of London Sadiq Khan suggested that the competition would act as a “springboard to recovery” for the nation.
“I think it is possible and I’m hoping there will be a really good summer,” he said. “I think Euro 2020 will be fantastic, we have the seven games in London. I think we can use Euro 2020 as a springboard to a recovery, particularly if it’s domestic fans only.
“I want to see Scots coming down to London to watch the Scotland-England game and it can be really exciting.”
In January the Guardian reported that UEFA officials were exploring the possibility of one country hosting the summer tournament.
Bayern Munich CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said: “I know that the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin – who is incredibly careful with corona – is thinking about whether it wouldn’t make more sense in these times to play the tournament in just one country. That would be with a corresponding hygiene concept, of course.”
The Prime Minister is expected to mention the return of spectators to sports events within his 60-page “road map to recovery” on Monday (February 22).
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