UEFA Euro 2020

The **2020 UEFA European Football Championship**, commonly referred to as **UEFA Euro 2020** (stylised as **UEFA EURO 2020**) or simply **Euro 2020**, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship competition, UEFA confirmed that 12 different host cities across Europe would host the tournament.

The tournament was originally intended to be played between 12 June and 12 July 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe during that year, the tournament was postponed to June and July 2021, while retaining the name *UEFA Euro 2020* and host venues. Alongside special rules regarding COVID-19, UEFA also allowed two extra substitutions and implemented video assistant referee (VAR) for the first time.

Initially, there were 12 venues chosen for the tournament but one was later dropped. Brussels was dropped in December 2017 after the city's Eurostadium was abandoned, while Dublin was planned to be dropped in April 2021 because there was no guarantee that spectators could attend but eventually spectators were allowed in late May 2021. Spain originally intended to use Bilbao as a host venue but later changed it to Seville to allow for spectators at matches. UEFA chose Stadio Olimpico in Rome to host the opening match between Italy and Turkey, while Wembley Stadium in London was selected as a semi-final and final venue.

The tournament began on 11th July 2021, with Turkey vs Germany at Allianz Arena, with Germany winning 2-0. The Group Stage concluded on 23rd June 2021 and Knockout Stage started on 27th June 2021 and concluded on 11th July 2021 with the Final at Wembley Stadium.

## Bid Process

After the conformation of the multiple venues across Europe tournament, countries got their best stadiums into the bidding, for 12-14 stadiums to be selected.

## Qualification

No team automatically qualified for UEFA Euro 2020, and all 24 spots were up for grabs for the 55 UEFA Nations. The main qualifying process started in March 2019, instead of immediately in September 2018 following the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and ended in November 2019. The format remained largely the same, although only 20 of the 24 spots for the finals tournament were decided from the main qualifying process, leaving four spots still to be decided. Following the admission of Kosovo to UEFA in May 2016, it was announced that the 55 members at the time would be drawn into ten groups after the completion of the UEFA Nations League (five groups of five teams and five groups of six teams, with the four participants of the UEFA Nations League Finals guaranteed to be drawn into groups of five teams), with the top two teams in each group qualifying. The qualifiers were played on double matchdays in March, June, September, October and November 2019.

With the creation of the UEFA Nations League starting in 2018, the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was linked with Euro qualifying, providing teams another chance to qualify for the tournament. Four teams from each division that had not already qualified for the European Championship competed in the play-offs for each division. The winners of the play-offs for each division, which were decided by two one-off semi-finals (the best-ranked team vs. the lowest-ranked team, and the second-best-ranked team vs. the third-best-ranked team, played at home of higher-ranked teams) and a one-off final (with the venue drawn in advance between the two semi-finals winners), joined the 20 teams that had already qualified for the tournament.

## Venues

The 12 Venues for Euro 2020 were as follows, there were 2 stadiums for each group. It was decided after the draw.

### Host Cities for Groups

* Group A: Munich and Budapest
* Group B: Rome and St Petersbrug
* Group C: Amsterdam and Copenhagen
* Group D: London and Glasgow
* Group E: Bilbao and Dublin
* Group F: Bucharest and Baku

## Final Draw

### Draw

The draw was held in November 2019. The Play-Off winners were unknown at the time, the team in italics are the eventual winning play-off teams. Hungary and Germany were automatically assigned to Group A, Italy and Russia were automatically assigned to Group B, Netherlands and Play-Off Path A winner were assigned to Group C, as Denmark were a play-off team with Copenhagen as a host city. England and Play-Off Path C winner as Scotland were one of the four teams in the Play-Off Path, with Glasgow as a host city. Spain were assigned to Group E. Play-Off Path B had Ireland and Romania, if Ireland won the Play-Off Path, they would be assigned to Group E and if Romania won they would be assigned to Group F.

## References

1. ↑ UEFA Euro 2020: The 16th Edition of the Competition and 60th Anniversary of UEFA Euro will be a special one
2. ↑ UEFA Euro 2020: After months of discussion, UEFA Euro 2020 cancelled and will likely be played in July 2021
3. ↑ UEFA Euro 2020 Schedule: Find Dates, Times and Venue for all 51 games in upcoming tournament
4. ↑ From 1960-1988: Russia competed as the USSR