The prospect of Dublin staging games at this summer’s Euro 2020 remains remote after the Football Association of Ireland advised Uefa on Wednesday that no assurances can be given on allowing fans into the Aviva Stadium in June.
Dublin is due to stage four games in June but Uefa, European football’s governing body, has sought assurances on a minimum threshold for spectator attendances at the matches.
“The Football Association of Ireland, on advice and guidance from the Government, has today notified Uefa that owing to the Covid-19 pandemic it is not in a position at this point to provide assurances on minimum spectator levels at the Uefa Euro 2020 matches due to be held in Dublin in June.
“In so doing, we have advised UEFA that the matter will be kept under review and that the Dublin LOS team including Government will continue to discuss all issues with Uefa on an ongoing basis . . . public health issues are the most important consideration in the organisation of the project.”
Poland, Sweden and Slovakia are set to play three games in Dublin during the championship, with another second-round match also set to be played at the Aviva Stadium.
Uefa sought submissions from all of the 12 host cities on Wednesday but will allow plans for supporters to attend to be updated should conditions around the coronavirus pandemic improve.
The UK government has announced plans for a number of test events - including a 21,000 crowd for the FA Cup final on May 15th - with a view to having Wembley full for at least some European Championship games.
On Tuesday, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was optimistic there would be a “reasonably good number” of supporters at Hampden for matches set to take place there.
Following the submissions, a meeting will be held on Thursday of the Euro Steering Group, which consists of the 12 national associations and Uefa. Once hosts have submitted the scenarios, they will be allowed to come back to Uefa before April 28th with an increased view on how many supporters they could accommodate.
The governing body is understood not to be pushing the deadline back as such, but rather allowing venues to upscale if conditions around the coronavirus pandemic get better in the coming weeks. Ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, it was confirmed the Johan Cruyff ArenA in Amsterdam would see at least 12,000 supporters attend under current proposals.
Elsewhere, at least 11,000 supporters are expected to be able to attend the four Euro 2020 games in the Danish capital Copenhagen. There could also be up to 50 per cent capacity at matches in St Petersburg, Russia which will host one of the quarter-finals as well as group matches.
