Coronavirus: Despite the Epidemic Rebound, UEFA Does Not Change its Plans for the Euro and the Champions League (for now)

Football
Despite coronavirus, UEFA doesn't change Euro or Champions league

FOOTBALL: Despite the coronavirus health crisis in Europe, UEFA wants to maintain the Euro format in twelve different countries

So far everything is fine… no worse. We learned on Thursday that UEFA was not currently considering modifying its plans for Euro football or for the Champions League, despite the rebound of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic all over the country. continent. A strategy opposed to what we can see in other disciplines such as rugby, Formula 1 or the Ski World Cup. “Regarding the Euro”, initially scheduled for summer 2020 and rescheduled from June 11 to July 11, “nothing has changed,” said a spokesperson for the European body on Thursday.

UEFA, therefore, plans to maintain the event in 12 cities in 12 countries, while Swiss football boss Dominique Blanc said Tuesday “difficult” to maintain this scenario “given travel restrictions”. “By March 5th”, the body will decide “city by city” between four options: “100% spectators in the stadium, 50 to 100%, 20 to 30% or behind closed doors”, with various health precautions in each case, specify the same source.

The closed door option hovers more and more over the Euro

Club competitions, including the Champions League, which will attack its round of 16 on February 16th and 17th, are also not threatened immediately, unlike the European Rugby Cups . While calls to vaccinate athletes multiply, the body explains that this aspect “will be part of the reflection” on the medical protocol of its competitions, “but it is too early to make a decision”.

In an interview Tuesday with several Swiss media, Dominique Blanc envisaged two tracks: “to play the Euro in a single country, in Russia or in Germany for example”, or “to fall back in a single big city” having enough stadiums, like London. He could not imagine the spectators returning to the stadiums, given the slow progression of vaccination coverage: “In my eyes, we are moving towards a different Euro, probably without a public”, as was done in August 2020 the “Final 8” of the Champions League in Lisbon. Cheering, isn’t it?

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