Dublin, Glasgow and Bilbao face Euros axe with England in line to land extra games
DUBLIN, Glasgow and Bilbao are at risk of losing their hosting duties for this summer’s European Championships.
And England could be the beneficiaries, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson telling The Sun earlier this week that ‘we are certainly on’ for extra hosting duties.
Uefa are determined for stadiums to be at least 50 per cent full for the summer’s matches.
And according to AP News, cities that cannot give that guarantee ‘within weeks’ are at risk of being axed – with English venues ready to pick up the slack.
Having already had to postpone the Championships by a year, Uefa are willing to be ruthless by stripping hosting duties as they aim to finalise plans as soon as possible.
Britain’s vaccination programme, the fastest in Europe, is said to have pleased Uefa chiefs.
The government are hoping to have crowds of up to 10,000 return to sporting events in May, with many other restrictions to be lifted on June 21.
But these aims only apply for England, with Scotland set to be more cautious in their approach.
This could see Glasgow’s Hampden Park stripped of its three group matches, as well as its scheduled round of 16 clash.
Meanwhile, the Irish government believe that it is ‘too early’ to offer guarantees, given the shifting nature of the pandemic.
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Like Hampden, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium is set to host four matches.
But these could also be moved, with a number of English venues in the frame.
London’s 62,000-seat Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could grab extra hosting duties, while Manchester and Liverpool may also stage matches.
Basque government officials, meanwhile, are also erring on the side of caution, with the economic benefits of staging the games having even been called into question.
With a strong regional separatist movement, the Spanish national team isn’t as ‘popular’ in Bilbao as in other cities.
If Bilbao was to lose hosting responsibilites, those games would be picked up by other Spanish venues, according to AP.
LaLiga chief Javier Tebas, however, is keen on getting fans back into Spanish venues before the end of the season.
Other cities still currently pencilled in to host games are Rome, Munich, St Petersburg, Baku, Amsterdam, Budapest, Copenhagen and Bucharest.
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