Bucharest (AFP)
A million tickets will go on sale from 4 to 18 December for supporters of the twenty teams already qualified for Euro-2020, said Saturday the UEFA, welcoming the "very strong demand" recorded so far.
The first wave of commercial activity last summer prompted "a very strong demand, amounting to more than 19 million" while only 1.5 million tickets were put on sale and sold out of the 3 million planned in total, said Philippe Margraff, UEFA's commercial director
"This shows how much the format is appreciated and well appreciated by the fans," he said at a press conference in Bucharest, on the sidelines of the draw of the Euro scheduled for Saturday night.
"Wednesday, we will put on sale a million additional tickets for the 20 already qualified teams," he announced, adding that the purchase period will continue until December 18.
For this Euro organized in twelve cities in Europe, the most affordable tickets cost 30 euros in Baku, Bucharest and Budapest, and 50 in the other host cities.
Could the tournament, broken out across Europe, lack fervor? "We have 12 countries with 12 different flavors", "it will be a completely different atmosphere and I think that the fans will appreciate it", defended Martin Kallen, in charge of the organization for UEFA.
Regarding possible travel difficulties, especially in Russia and Azerbaijan, the manager wanted reassuring.
"In Russia we will have the same system as during the World Cup (in 2018, ed)," a kind of visa issued to foreigners with a ticket for a match, said Kallen. For meetings in Azerbaijan, however, discussions are still ongoing with the authorities.
In Bucharest, UEFA leaders were also reassuring about possible racist incidents during the tournament.
"In our experience, the Euro is still a very festive event, so we are confident that it will take over the stupid actions we do not want to see," responded Giorgio Marchetti, deputy secretary general of the UEFA.
© 2019 AFP