Football: in a month opens the Euro, which country will succeed Ronaldo's Portugal?
Cristiano Ronaldo during Euro 2016 in France.
© AFP - VALERY HACHE
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
Friday, June 11, in the Olympic stadium in Rome, the kickoff of Euro football will be given with the match between Italy and Turkey.
Then will follow a month of competition until the final, on July 11, held in London.
Who will succeed Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal?
Publicity
Read more
The French Michel Platini, former president of UEFA, had imagined this pan-European Euro for its 60th anniversary since its creation, with thirteen cities and thirteen countries which had initially been selected.
But Brussels (Belgium), European capital, was then failed.
The Euro in 2020 should therefore have taken place in twelve host cities, before being postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spectator gauges between 25% and 100%
Wishing to organize a tournament with the public in the stands, UEFA finally dismissed on April 23 Bilbao in Spain and Dublin in Ireland, for lack of guarantees on the reception of spectators.
The matches planned in Bilbao will therefore be transferred to Seville and those planned in Dublin will finally take place in Saint Petersburg and London.
For the reception of spectators in the stadiums, the selected cities have all promised gauges between 25% and 100%.
But just after the officialization of the host cities, Munich sowed new doubts.
The town hall assured that there had been "
no promise of any kind to guarantee spectators
", especially since such a decision depends on the German government and is strictly conditioned on health developments.
A competition with a more austere face
The festival of European football should take on a more austere face than usual.
The security of the tournament will be based mainly on "sanitary bubbles" for the teams.
Regarding spectators, there will be measures such as the staggered arrival at the stadium, the gauge, disinfection and distancing.
But no one can say if the supporters will be able to follow their team everywhere.
Only Budapest, St. Petersburg and Baku have pledged to exempt them from entry or quarantine restrictions, with Bucharest considering doing the same if the stay does not exceed three days.
Local authorities will have to organize accommodation, catering and possible gatherings of foreign fans, without endangering the population of the country.
France for a new Mondial-Euro pass
On the sporting side, Portugal sees the end of a five-year reign - the longest in the history of the Euro -, started by the surprise victory of a selection more deserving than sparkling against the French hosts in 2016. The France, world champion in 2018 in Russia, is once again eagerly awaited.
To achieve a new World-Euro pass, as in 1998-2000, the Blues will have to extricate themselves from a very tough group with Portugal and Germany as the toughest rivals. Winning titles "
is not done by snapping your fingers
" because "
other nations are progressing, working, not sleeping
," says coach Didier Deschamps today. “
It's very, very difficult to get to the very top level. But it's even more difficult to stay there
, ”he adds.
Since the 2018 World Cup, the Blues have known only three defeats in twenty-eight games.
The preparation camp for the French team will begin on May 26 at the Clairefontaine training center, before two friendly matches against Wales, on June 2 in Nice, then Bulgaria on June 8 at the Stade de France.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Soccer
Euro 2020