The ax of UEFA fell on the cities of Bilbao and Dublin.

Uncertain of being able to welcome spectators for their Euro football matches this summer (June 11-July 11), they saw themselves withdrawing the organization of their parts of the event.

Sevilla are reassigned the matches planned in the Basque Country and St. Petersburg and London share those initially planned in Ireland.

Munich confirmed

Already postponed by a year due to the pandemic, the tournament will finally take place in eleven cities across eleven countries: Munich, in the hot seat, has been confirmed and will welcome the France-Germany shock on June 15, while it There was no longer any doubt about Baku, Rome, Bucharest, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Budapest and Amsterdam.

Imagined by former UEFA president Michel Platini, this unprecedented pan-European format was initially to be held in thirteen cities in thirteen countries, then twelve after the eviction of Brussels at the end of 2017 in the face of obstacles linked to the construction of its large stadium.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin was delighted to be able to "guarantee a safe and festive environment", with spectators "at all matches", a requirement set by the body in March despite the health crisis.

"There is a little work ahead of us, we are starting again - camp, travel, all the logistics," for his part tweeted the Polish Zbigniew Boniek, vice-president of UEFA, even before the official decision.

Sewilla i San Petersburg- oficjalnie !!!

🇵🇱⚽️🇵🇱 Trochę pracy przed nami, zaczynamy od nowa- obóz, przejazdy, cała logistyka⚽️🇵🇱

- Zbigniew Boniek (@BoniekZibi) April 23, 2021

Saint Petersburg, which was already among the host cities, will therefore recover three new matches in the first round, namely Poland-Slovakia, Sweden-Slovakia and Sweden-Poland.

"Today, we are leaving on 50% [of spectators]. This is the limit confirmed by UEFA. If there is the possibility of changing, it will be an increase", underlined Friday in the newspaper Sport-Express the president of the Russian organizing committee, Alexeï Sorokine.

For its part, London will resume the round of 16 scheduled in Dublin, which will therefore be added to the seven meetings that the British capital was to host in the legendary Wembley stadium, including the semi-finals and the final. 

Not provided for in the initial organization, Seville had for several days been the preferred solution for the Spanish federation to resume the four meetings scheduled in Bilbao, excluded Wednesday by UEFA for having set too drastic sanitary conditions for the reception of the public [ Bilbao had set a gauge at 25% not firmly and definitively, and only if, depending on the city, the sanitary conditions allowed it].

Faced with this "unilateral" decision, the Basque organizers have let it be known that they plan to take the case to court to recover the expenses of 1.2 million euros already incurred.

For several weeks already, Budapest, Saint Petersburg, Baku, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Rome and London had all promised gauges between 25% and 100%.

Munich will welcome "14,500 spectators at least," UEFA said in its press release on Friday. 

With AFP

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