Euro 2020: Munich retains hosting rights

UEFA’s Executive Committee has announced Friday that the city of Munich will retain its right to host four games at this summer’s European Championship.

The Bavarian capital has been given the green light to host all three of Germany’s group-stage games, plus one quarterfinal, although it remains unclear how many supporters will be allowed to attend.

“We are confident that Munich will remain a host city for Euro 2020,” German FA (DFB) general secretary Friedrich Curtius had told SID. “We have received a lot of support from politicians in recent days for our responsible plans.”

A statement posted on the German FA (DFB) website on Friday also sounded upbeat, reading that “the government of the Free State of Bavaria has expressed its support for the lead scenario” drawn up in cooperation with Munich authorities, which provides for a “minimum capacity of 14,500 spectators” at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.

However, this remains dependent upon COVID-19 numbers coming down by June.

Munich was one of three of the designated Euro 2020 host cities that had failed to provide a guarantee that at least some fans would be allowed into their stadiums for the games this summer.

The home of Bayern Munich still appears set to host some Euro 2020 games this summer

UEFA President Aleksandar Ceferin had made this a requirement for all host cities, voiced in an interview with a Croatian sports publication back in March. 

“Every host must guarantee there will be fans at their games,” Ceferin told Sportske Novosti, also noting that “one guarantee we can make is that the option of playing any Euro 2020 match in an empty stadium is off the table.”

Bilbao out

The Spanish city of Bilbao has already lost its right to host matches to Seville after the Spanish FA (RFEF) said earlier this month that COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Basque region made it “impossible” to admit fans to the Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames stadium. 

Dublin also stands to lose its right to host matches after the authorities there refused to provide guarantees to UEFA that fans would be allowed to attend games in the Irish capital.

“We just think June is too soon,” Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told Today FM radio on Wednesday. 

Euro 2024 and ill-fated Super League

With Germany already selected as hosts of the next European Championship in 2024, it has been suggested that UEFA wouldn’t want to sour its relationship with the DFB.

 

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rumenigge has emerged as one of the winners of the Super League fiasco

It also won’t hurt that Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is now once again a member of the Executive Committee, having been elected earlier in the week to replace Juventus boss Andrea Agnelli, who had stepped down in the wake of the Super League fiasco, the ill-fated project that the Italian had spearheaded.

Some have interpreted the election of Rummenigge and Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al-Khelaifi to the committee as a tacit reward for having refused to join the renegade Super League.

’60th anniversary celebration’

The idea of staging Euro 2020 in cities across the continent was the brainchild of former UEFA President Michel Platini, who envisioned it as a one-off to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first European Championship hosted by France in 1960.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the idea much more difficult to pull off than originally thought, as evidenced by the fact that it had to be delayed by a year. 

Still, it appears set to go ahead, with Budapest, St Petersburg, Baku, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Rome and London all having promised crowds of between 25% and 100% capacity for the Euros, which open on June 11 and wrap up with the final at London’s Wembley Stadium on July 11. 

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/euro-2020-munich-retains-hosting-rights/a-57310400?maca=en-rss-en-sports-1027-xml-atom