Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, fans hoping to attend their teams’ matches and travelling across borders during the European Championship will be up against a wide array of problems and challenges – quarantine rules, restricted entries, special visas, negative RT-PCR tests.
While the situation continues to evolve and change on a day-to-day basis, UEFA maintains that all the 11 host cities spread all across Europe will be accepting visiting fans.
“None of the countries has put any prohibition on foreign fans,” UEFA spokesman Thomas Giordano said. “But there are some countries where you need to undergo quarantine. So you could still go. But, for example in the UK right now, if you come from abroad, you have to quarantine. So you need to come potentially up to 10 days in advance of a game.
“And then there are some countries where you just need evidence of a PCR test. So again, it changes from one country to another. But none of them have said, ‘We won’t allow foreign fans.’ It’s just that they need to, obviously, comply with the entry conditions at the time.”
Speaking about England, where the Wembley Stadium in London will host both the semi-finals and the final, Thomas Giordano said that England might be planning to lift more restrictions in June which will allow increased audience capacity at the Wembley Stadium.
According to the current rules, Wembley Stadium will be operating at 25% capacity for the group stage fixtures as well as the knockout games.
“We expect to have more information in the beginning of June on what is going to happen,” Giordano said. “(Britain) are planning to lift a whole series of restrictions on June 21, which potentially could also mean a new increase of the capacity for the semifinals and final.”
The British government’s response also depends on the situation pertaining to COVID-19 in the country and the rates could be adversely affected by the recently-discovered Indian variant.
“It will depend on how the situation evolves there. Things can change quickly. But there is a potential to upscale,” Giordano said.
Still, even if capacity is increased, visiting fans for the final rounds should still have to abide by Britain’s entry rules.
“Obviously,” Giordano said, “they won’t know at the beginning of June which teams will make it to the final.
