UEFA tells Romania to toe the full house line

Article posted by Coliseum, March 24^th, 2021

Image: gmp architecten & wsp

Romania’s Minister of Sports, Eduard Novak, stated that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has “compelled” Romania to guarantee that football fans will be allowed to attend the Euro 2020 matches to be organized in Bucharest if the country still wants to stage the fixtures.

Earlier, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) President Aleksander Čeferin, while mincing no words, had said that the pandemic-delayed Euro 2020 will not be played in empty stadia -“Host cities must allow fans into grounds or risk being dropped.”

Čeferin also made it clear that, “Every host must guarantee there will be fans at their games.”

The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, is scheduled to be the 16^th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men’s football championship of Europe organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It is slated to be held from June 11^th to July 11^th, 2021.

Nyon (Switzerland)-headquartered the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the administrative body for football, futsal and beach soccer in Europe. It is one of six continental confederations of world football’s governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members.

‘Romania-Insider.com’ reported that the UEFA has made it clear that the stadia should be open to a capacity of at least 20-25 percent. The Government should guarantee this by a decision issued in advance – in other words, irrespective of the country’s COVID-19 situation when the matches take place.

Minister Novak said that “this is feasible”, but the talks among ministers continue. A final decision on the UEFA directive will be taken soon.

‘Romania-Insider.com’ further reported that UEFA has set a deadline of April 7^th for each City to present its scenario for the Euro 2020 matches. The competition is scheduled to take place between June 11^th and July 11^th, 2021 in 12 European Cities, including Bucharest.

The soccer spectacle which could not be held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 punch is due to be held this year in 12 different countries the host cities being – Amsterdam (Netherlands), Baku (Azerbaijan), Bilbao (Spain), Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), Glasgow (UK), London (UK), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), and Saint Petersburg (Russia).

VALAHIA.news stated that ‘no stadium without fans’ is the rule for this summer’s most waited European Football Championship of all times: UEFA Euro 2020. It’s literally the most waited European event, as fans had to wait one year longer than usual, because of the pandemic. If one country cannot allow fans inside stadia because of the local or national restrictions in place due to the still-very-dangerous coronavirus situation all over the world, than it will be excluded from staging the games.

VALAHIA.news further reported that in Bucharest, fixtures have been scheduled from a group with Austria, North Macedonia and Ukraine. Also, a round of 16 will be played at the National Arena, the biggest Romanian stadium with 55,634 seats. The National Arena could allow up to 12,000 fans inside, which is around 25 percent of the maximum capacity.

The 55,634-capacity National Arena is a retractable roof football stadium in Bucharest, Romania, which opened in 2011, on the site of the original Stadionul Național, which was demolished from 2007 to 2008. The stadium hosts major football matches including home matches of the Romania national football team, and the Cupa României Final.

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