According to Metaratings, the European Championship matches organizers at Saint-Petersburg, Russia expressed their eagerness to host the 1/8 final of the tournament to UEFA. Formerly it had to be played in Dublin, Ireland.
It was previously reported by Daily Mail, that Irish authorities can’t guarantee to hold Euro-2020 games with spectators at the stadium due to the threat of spreading coronavirus. The main contenders for holding all four matches instead of Dublin are Saint-Petersburg and London.
According to Metaratings data, Russia and England will share these games equally. Saint-Petersburg will host one of the group stages matches and the 1/8 finals game, where the first team from Group D will play the second team from Group F. London will host two games of the group stage.
In total, Saint-Petersburg claims the right to host six games of Euro-2020: besides matches, which they might take away from Ireland, three games of the group stage, two of which with the participation of the Russian national team and one quarter final will be held in Russia. The semifinals and final of the continental cup will be held in London.
The general director of the organizing committee of the European Championship in Saint-Petersburg Alexey Sorokin allowed the idea of moving additional games of Euro-2020 to Saint-Petersburg. He declared that since Russia is among the countries that have confirmed 50% attendance then they might be on the list with other cities considered to move games in.
At the moment it is reported that 8 matches of group stage are under threat of delay, as well as three games in the playoff. Recently Spanish Bilbao was dropped as a host of the European Championship.
As of now, the cities that confirmed readiness to host games with spectators are Saint-Petersburg, Amsterdam, Baku, Budapest, Glasgow, Bucharest, Copenhagen, London and Rome. Munich and Dublin are still under question. UEFA intends to announce the final decision on Friday, 23rd of April.
