UEFA Gives 12 Euro Hosts until April for Plan to Have Fans

The Henri Delaunay Trophy is seen ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 Final Draw Ceremony. (Getty Images)
The Henri Delaunay Trophy is seen ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 Final Draw Ceremony. (Getty Images)
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UEFA Gives 12 Euro Hosts until April for Plan to Have Fans

The Henri Delaunay Trophy is seen ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 Final Draw Ceremony. (Getty Images)
The Henri Delaunay Trophy is seen ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 Final Draw Ceremony. (Getty Images)

UEFA insisted Wednesday it remains determined to stage the rescheduled European Championship across 12 countries but gave host cities until April to decide whether fans can attend games.

Even before the pandemic derailed UEFA's plans last year, the event was logistically challenging because it was using a dozen stadiums in different countries for the first time.

The planning has been complicated further by a second wave of the coronavirus leading to new forms of lockdowns across Europe and domestic games being played in empty stadiums. An operational meeting on Wednesday led by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin with representatives of the 12 host cities had to be held virtually.

“UEFA is committed to holding Euro 2020 in the 12 cities originally planned,” Čeferin said. “I am optimistic that things are highly likely to be very different with regard to the virus as we move closer to the tournament and it is important that we give the host cities and governments as much time as we can to formulate an accurate picture of what will be possible come June and July.”

Greater flexibility in the planning will be afforded to cities, including giving them until early April to submit plans about how fans might be allowed into stadiums, UEFA said.

Wembley Stadium has the most games, with the London venue staging the semifinals and final among its seven fixtures.

Dublin is the westernmost venue while the eastern extremity is Baku, Azerbaijan. Matches will also be in Munich, Rome, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Budapest and Glasgow.

“Fans are such a big part of what makes football special and that is true of the Euro as much as it is of any game,” Čeferin said. “We must allow ourselves the maximum space to allow their return to the stadiums.”



Just Frustration: Piastri Explains Radio Cursing at Alpine

Second-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia poses on the podium with his trophy after the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring racetrack in Spielberg, Austria, 29 June 2025. (EPA)
Second-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia poses on the podium with his trophy after the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring racetrack in Spielberg, Austria, 29 June 2025. (EPA)
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Just Frustration: Piastri Explains Radio Cursing at Alpine

Second-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia poses on the podium with his trophy after the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring racetrack in Spielberg, Austria, 29 June 2025. (EPA)
Second-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia poses on the podium with his trophy after the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring racetrack in Spielberg, Austria, 29 June 2025. (EPA)

McLaren's Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri said cursing at former employers Alpine over the radio at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix was just a humorous way of expressing his frustration.

The Australian made a comment after having to go off track to avoid Renault-owned Alpine's Argentine driver Franco Colapinto.

"Alpine still managed to find a way to (expletive) me over all these years later, huh?," he told race engineer Tom Stallard in an exchange not broadcast on television at the time.

Piastri told Reuters at a McLaren fan event in London's Trafalgar Square on Wednesday that his swearing had just been spur of the moment.

"It was just kind of a frustrating coincidence. My qualifying got hampered by an Alpine. I got impeded in the race by both the Alpines. So, it was kind of just a build-up of a few things," he said. "And it was more out of frustration.

"I still have a lot of friends at Alpine. A lot of people that I respect a lot.

"It was just kind of an ironic coincidence that the things that hampered me a bit in the weekend were all with Alpine. But, yeah -- more just me trying to express my humor and frustration in the race."

Piastri joined McLaren after being named by Alpine as their driver for 2023, only for the Australian to very publicly reject the seat with a statement that has become part of Formula One lore.

Then Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer questioned the driver's integrity, and threatened legal action, but McLaren won easily when the matter went to the contract recognition board.

Alpine are now last in the championship, and are still going through turmoil, while McLaren won the constructors' title last year and are runaway favorites again.