UEFA EURO 2021
Initially, the Euro cup would take place in 2020. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, UEFA decided to postpone the Euro Cup. It also didn't help that the tournament, for the first time in its history, would be played in 12 different countries. So, the fans would be running around for a month. Now this tournament will take place from June 11 to July 11 of this year in the following 12 cities: London, Munich, Rome, Baku, Saint Petersburg, Bucharest, Budapest, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Glasgow, Dublin, and Copenhagen. UEFA is handling four scenarios:
- Full stadiums
- Stadiums with a capacity between 50 and 100% with various sanitary measures
- Between 20 and 30% of capacity with adapted measures
- Behind closed doors
According to UEFA, there will be particular decisions for each city, announcing them next March.
Who will be in the group stage?
The 32 teams from the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group stage are divided into 26 automatic qualifiers for this round plus six play-off winners. The six groups' composition, once the four teams that enter through the play-off have been confirmed, is as follows:
- Group A: Italy, Turkey, Wales, Switzerland.
- Group B: Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland.
- Group C: North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, and the Netherlands.
- Group D: Czech Republic, England, Scotland, and Croatia.
- Group E: Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, and Spain.
- Group F: Germany, Portugal, France, and Hungary.
Players To Watch At Euro 2021
The game will take place across the continent for the first time in the competition's history. There is a list of stars from the main leagues in Europe: Cristiano, Modric, Mbappé, Kroos, Ramos, Sterling, Hazard, De Jong, and Kevin de Bruyne. Likewise, we will see young people like Dani Olmo, Timo Werner, Jadon Sancho, Kingsley Coman, Ansu Fati, Joao Félix, Dominik Szoboszlai, Fabián Ruiz, and Pedri Gonzalez, the young Spanish promise. Many of them have a guaranteed place in their national team. Besides, their nations are already classified for Euro 2021.
How Will The Euro 2021 Game Survive The COVID-19 Crisis?
The worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe caused hesitation and worry. Contagions have been increasing over the last months. Though, UEFA is looking to implement a safe procedure to achieve a successful event. In this sense, UEFA still would be evaluating several probable formats for Euro 2021. Everybody expects a final decision in mid-March regarding how the Euro cup 2021 will look like. The only thing that's certain right now is that teams will not play in crowded stadiums.
In the best scenarios, the stadiums will not exceed 70% of their total occupation. Also, there is a backup plan adjusting to 30% of their capacity. It will occur if the vaccination plans do not reach their goals to ensure security. The third option, which UEFA views as highly unlikely, is a tournament played behind closed doors in a single country. It would have strict bubbles for each team as safety measures against COVID. Obviously, securing a safe and acceptable approach to run the tournament is UEFA's great challenge and has to be looked deeply into.
