UEFA’s showpiece tournament, Euro 2020, kicks off in less than two years. That’s plenty of time to gather all of your friends and to start thinking about which cities and countries you want to visit.
If you didn’t know already, Euro 2020 will be a special tournament. There will be 12 host countries, as opposed to one or two host countries.
The host countries and cities consist of Azerbaijan (Baku), Russia (Saint Petersburg), Denmark (Copenhagen), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Hungary (Budapest), Romania (Bucharest), Italy (Rome), Germany (Munich), Spain (Bilbao), England (London), Ireland (Dublin) and Scotland (Glasgow).
The tournament will last one month, beginning on the June 12, 2020, and finishing on July 12.
There will be 24 teams competing at the tournament, with six groups. Each group will be hosted by two cities. The assigned cities for each groups are:
- Group A: Rome (Italy) and Baku (Azerbaijan)
- Group B: Saint Petersburg (Russia) and Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Group C: Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Bucharest (Romania)
- Group D: London (England) and Glasgow (Scotland)
- Group E: Bilbao (Spain) and Dublin (Ireland)
- Group F: Munich (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary)
If a host nation qualifies, it will be drawn into the hosting group. For example, if Italy qualifies, it will be placed into Group A, as Rome is a host city. If by some divine intervention Scotland qualifies, then it will be placed into Group D as Glasgow is a host city for that group.
The hosting countries have either a standard package or a finals package. A standard package consists of three group-stage matches along with a Round of 16 or a quarterfinal match. The finals package consists of hosting group-stage matches plus the semifinals and the final.
Euro 2020 cannot come quickly enough. At my age, I need tournament football
— Elis James (@elisjames) July 15, 2018
Countries that have the standard package for the group stage and Round of 16 are Denmark (Copenhagen), Hungary (Budapest), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Ireland (Dublin), Romania (Bucharest), Scotland (Glasgow) and Spain (Bilbao).
Countries that have the standard package for the group stage and the quarterfinals are Azerbaijan (Baku), Germany (Munich), Italy (Rome) and Russia (Saint Petersburg).
Waiting for Euro 2020 like pic.twitter.com/7ZjzBgbSHg
— N’Golo Kanté Appreciation Account (@LindseyPehrson) July 15, 2018
If you’re a die-hard soccer fan, you will want to base yourself in London. Wembley Stadium will be hosting three group-stage matches, a Round of 16 match, the semifinals and the final. You might be asking why London ended up with all of these matches.
Well, as it turns out, Belgium was meant to be host three group stage matches and a Round of 16 match, but its newly proposed stadium had been put on hold. Long story short, UEFA didn’t feel confident the stadium would be built in time and decided to give those matches to Wembley.
Euro 2020 final is at Wembley. That’s a better time for football to finally come home.
— StatCity (@StatCity) July 11, 2018
All of the stadiums are over a capacity of 50,000, except for the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, which holds just over 38,000 people. You can expect plenty of atmosphere in these stadiums.
The teams competing at Euro 2020 will be decided through Euro 2020 qualifying, as per usual. The draw for Euro 2020 will take place on December 1, 2019, so that still leaves plenty of time for soccer fans to decide where they want to go to see the matches. As stated earlier, some nations will already know what group they will be in because they could be hosting. You can easily plan ahead!
You can register your interest for tickets now as well.
So, what are you waiting for? Get a group of friends together, work out which countries you want to go to and see games in, and get planning!
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