UEFA have warned the United Kingdom government and the English football governing body about having a contingency plan in place, if the 2020 European Championship is deemed unfeasible to be staged at the Wembley Stadium in London. According to reports, Hungary might be the venue for the final if discussions between the UEFA and the UK government fall through.
The reconstructed Wembley Stadium is scheduled to host the final of the Euro 2020 on 11th July. While the old Wembley hosted the final of the 1996 edition of this competition, this will be the first time when the new stadium will host the grand event.
However, some recent developments have seen the emergence of Hungary as a ‘Plan B’ for the hosting duties, owing to the United Kingdom’s strict quarantine protocols related to COVID-19.
The UK currently has a rule in place, which states that people who are arriving from the ‘red’ or ‘amber’ listed countries will have to serve a mandatory 10-day isolation period. To make matters worse, 23 of the 24 nations competing in the Euro 2020 are amber-listed by the government, while Turkey is red-listed.
UEFA have asked the government for special exemption from this rule for 2,500 VIP officials, who will be travelling to England to attend the final. In case the government remains stringent about its laws, UEFA might be tempted to relocate the final to Hungary.
In a statement, the European football governing body has said that while they are confident that there will not be any issue in hosting the final at Wembley, they do have a contingency plan in place.
“At the moment, we are in discussions with the local authorities to try to allow fans of the participating teams to attend the matches, using a strict testing and bubble concept that would mean their stay in the UK would be less than 24 hours and their movements would be restricted to approved transport and venues only,”
the statement read.
It further went on to say:
“We understand the pressures that the government face and hope to be able to reach a satisfactory conclusion of our discussions on the matter. There is always a contingency plan but we are confident that the final week will be held in London.”
‘Priority has to be Public Health’ – Boris Johnson
When United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was asked whether he is planning to make a special exemption for UEFA’s VIP guests, he clearly stated that the priority will always be public health.
“We’ll do what we have to do to keep the country safe from COVID, that’s obviously going to be our priority. We’ll be talking to UEFA about what they want and see if we can make some sensible accommodations. But the priority obviously has to be public health,”
said Johnson, as quoted by Sky News.
