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Munich (AP) - With his criticism of UEFA, Uli Hoeneß has joined the opponents of a European football championship in twelve host countries.
Health expert Karl Lauterbach continues to be critical of the whole tournament this summer in view of the tense pandemic situation.
"Well, I don't think it's good that UEFA obviously insists on doing that in so many cities, because at least at the moment it looks like many countries don't have this problem under control," said the former FC president Bayern Munich to the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation.
The European Football Union recently reaffirmed its plan with a dozen venues.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin emphasized that he was "optimistic" that the corona situation would change by the summer.
According to current planning, the EM should kick off on June 11th in Rome.
The semi-finals and final (July 11th) are to be played in London.
The three group games of the German national team against world champions France (June 15), defending champions Portugal (June 19) and co-hosts Hungary (June 23) as well as a quarter-finals (July 2) are scheduled in Munich.
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Hoeneß believes that UEFA's adherence to the Pan-Europe plans is wrong.
"I would have preferred to concentrate it on three or four countries, where there would have been a greater likelihood that these hygiene concepts can be implemented well," said the 69-year-old.
Hoeneß did not say which venues he thought would be suitable.
The ex-boss of the German record champions also made no comments about a possibly necessary waiver of games in the Munich Allianz Arena.
UEFA postponed its prestige tournament planned for summer 2020 for a year last March, in the hope that the corona situation would have calmed down by then.
Since autumn there has been speculation about a host reduction.
Russia had positioned itself as the sole host.
England is also reportedly ready to take on more than the planned seven games at London's Wembley Stadium, according to domestic media.
Portugal was considered an option after successfully hosting the Champions League final tournament with the winner FC Bayern in August.
The latest corona developments in England and Portugal, however, give general tournament critics such as the SPD politician Lauterbach arguments.
“In the summer it will be the case that we will still have major problems and high case numbers in many places in Europe.
In the summer of Germany, the last battle of this first round of vaccination is ahead of us, ”he told the“ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung ”.
Therefore, he sees the European Championship and the Olympic Games in Tokyo (July 23 - August 8) critically.
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In Germany, Fredi Bobic, Berti Vogts and Stefan Effenberg, among others, had expressed criticism of the EM plans in the media.
Effenberg brought North Rhine-Westphalia into play as the host region, as the Europa League tournament had worked well there last year.
The German Football Association is holding back on the topic, as it is the sole host for the following European Championship in 2024.
«The original idea of holding it in twelve different countries is very European.
I am a European at heart.
That's why I still very much hope that the EM will come about in the planned mode, ”said DFB President Fritz Keller to the“ sports buzzer ”.
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