Euro 2021 Olimpico Committe

Health Committee Puts Damper on Return of Fans in Stadiums in Italy

The Italian government has okayed having fans at the Olimpico stadium for Euro 2021, but the technical-scientifical committee did not give his go-ahead for now. The body has played a key part in making most of the decisions related to the pandemic in the past year. Despite that, the Federation believes the cabinet’s availability will be enough to confirm Rome as one of the locations for the travelling competition, Repubblica reports.

UEFA asked to provide by yesterday the commitment to host matches, indicating the presence of supporters in the arena as a necessary condition. Italy did that, but without going into details. The organ stated in a release: “Considering the current epidemiologic situation, the intensity of the viral circulation, the rate with which sanitary structures are occupied and the limited capability of forecasting the levels of those indicators in the second half of June, it is not possible to give a defined opinion by April 7th.”

The committee will decide how many fans will be allowed, if any, later on depending on how things go in the Peninsula. Amsterdam and Glasgow will have 12k, Bilbao 13k, Copenhagen 11k, while Dublin is likely to pull out, with those matches moving to England. FIGC (the Italian Football Association) aims at 20k, but the national health officials might set the bar much lower (5/10k). More importantly, they will not make a choice with too much advance. UEFA would like to make the final call on the hosts by the end of the month, but it might be forced to give more time to the countries.