Test with fans at Wembley fuels hopes for viewers at the Euros

The iconic Wembley stadium is set to welcome back fans by the end of April. The test is likely to attract plenty of attention as it will spark hopes that spectators could attend the Euro 2020 matches.

Berlin (dpa) – Two test events are due to take place at Wembley stadium before the end of April, with 4,000 fans attending the FA Cup semi-final and 8,000 spectators at the League Cup final.

The FA Cup final on May 15 – less than a month before the start of the Euro 2020 postponed until this summer due to the pandemic – is to be watched by 21,000 fans in the 90,000-capacity stadium.

“This is an important first step in bringing fans back – with the aim of full stadiums,” FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said.

The 12 cities that are hosting the Euro 2020 games have to submit their plans for the staging of the matches to European ruling UEFA by Wednesday.

Originally, UEFA prepared four possible models – from games behind closed doors to stadiums with full capacity use.

However, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin caused a stir recently, saying only the venues that could guarantee admission of spectators would remain in the tournament.

The German football federation didn’t say what plans have been made with the city of Munich before the first UEFA deadline.

The Germany national team is set to play three group stage games at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena: against world champions France (on June 15), title holders Portugal (June 19) and Hungary (June 23).

The stadium is also due to host one of the quarter-finals match on July 2.

In view of the current third wave of cases in Germany, the organizers in Munich have avoided making any public commitments for games with fans – in contrast to other organizers, such as Copenhagen, Bucharest and St Petersburg, who plan to host games with at least some spectators.

“The Euro is a unique and historic event in Denmark,” the country’s Culture Minister Joy Mogensen said.

Budapest in Hungary is considered a UEFA favourite after it could host several Champions League and Europa League matches this season due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

Because of these plans, the complete relocation of the tournament to only one country, such as England, seems unlikely at the moment.

No host would be “automatically” excluded if only a scenario with matches without fans was to be submitted, UEFA diplomatically said after Ceferin’s statements.

However, the federation added that it would have to consider whether it would be better to move the matches to another venue.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson already publicly declared his willingness to host even more matches in England. Wembley is set to host a total of seven Euro matches so far.

According to UEFA, a decision will be taken “in the course of April”, with the UEFA congress meeting taking place on April 20.