The venture for the European Football Championship begins.

The pandemic has not yet been finally overcome, but with a year delay, the new champion of the continent is finally to be determined.

“Europe lives and celebrates life.

Europe is back, ”said UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin before the kick-off for the opening match between Italy and Turkey this Friday (9 pm in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ARD and MagentaTV).

What is the corona situation like in the eleven venues before the start, and which basic rules apply in the cities for the tournament - an overview:

Rome (three group matches, one quarter-finals)

Corona situation:

In the country with around 60 million inhabitants, the corona situation is noticeably easing.

At the same time, the government is loosening more and more corona restrictions.

Currently, the night curfew in Rome begins at midnight.

Depending on how the infection situation develops, it could be omitted from next week in the Lazio region, in which Rome is located.

The gastronomy is open inside and outside.

This applies to the European Championship:

If you have tickets for the European Championship games in Rome, you have three options to get into the stadium: Either with proof from the Italian health authority of a vaccination or recovery from the disease or a negative corona test.

This must not be older than 48 hours at the time of kick-off.

Almost 16,000 fans can attend the Olympic Stadium.

In the old town, screens are set up in some places and fan parties are planned.

Baku (three group matches, one quarter-finals)

Corona situation:

In the authoritarian-led South Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, the number of corona infections has fallen more and more in recent days as the major event approached.

In April there were still over 2000 cases on most days, this week the daily numbers were only in double digits.

That applies to the EM:

Baku wants to allow a 50 percent utilization of the Olympic Stadium.

Accordingly, up to 34,900 fans are officially admitted to the games.

The recently strict Corona measures should also be relaxed somewhat.

Local traffic, which was previously paralyzed on non-working days, should roll on the weekends.

Even so, many pandemic restrictions still apply until August 1st.

Copenhagen (three group matches, one round of 16)

Corona situation:

While the corona numbers have decreased elsewhere in Europe, they have remained relatively stable in Denmark as a result of many opening steps. Life in Germany's northernmost neighbor has become more and more free of restrictions in the past few weeks, so that basically everything is open again except for discos.

This applies to the European Championship:

It was planned that 15,900 spectators could be there per game in the park in Copenhagen - but several parliamentary parties are calling for even more fans to be admitted. Therefore it has now been increased to 25,000 for a short time. For organizational reasons, it is uncertain whether that will work for the game on Saturday. The stadium's capacity is 38,000. Larger red and white fan events are also planned in the Danish capital. In the so-called football village on Ofelia Square near the central and famous Nyhavn harbor, 3125 guests are expected to find space. As in restaurants, pubs and many other places, the prerequisite for admission is the presentation of the Corona pass, which can be used to prove negative corona tests, vaccinations and survived infections.