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Wembley Stadium: The European Championship final is to be played here.
Uefa is now putting Great Britain under pressure because of strict quarantine rules
Photo: Tom Shaw / Getty Images
The European football association Uefa is apparently considering moving the final of the European Football Championship to another venue if the British government does not agree to certain conditions. If the ten-day quarantine for foreign fans that actually applies in Great Britain is not overturned, London's Wembley Stadium could lose the final, reports the Reuters news agency. She relies on a Uefa statement. There it says that one can understand the pressure that the British government is under, but that it is hoped that the discussion will lead to a "satisfactory solution".
The Times had previously reported that the British government wanted to relax the quarantine rules for 2,500 VIPs, including FIFA and Uefa officials, politicians, sponsors and television station employees, in order to prevent the finals from being played in another country.
According to information from the newspaper, Uefa threatened to otherwise move the games to Hungary.
At the European Championships, the arena in Budapest is the only one with full capacity.
Two rounds of 16 (June 26th and 29th) are scheduled for next week, before both semi-finals there on July 6th and 7th and the final on July 11th.
Up to 45,000 spectators are to be admitted for the knockout round, which corresponds to 50 percent of the total capacity of the stadium - despite the expansion of the Delta variant.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently had to cash in on the planned "Freedom Day" due to the mutation.
The contact restrictions in England were to be lifted on June 21.
Delta variant drives up new infections
In Great Britain, the delta variant of the coronavirus discovered in India is currently spreading rapidly and is driving the number of new infections significantly higher despite the high vaccination rate.
Quarantine is mandatory when entering from almost all countries.
"At the moment we are in talks with the local authorities to try to enable the fans of the participating teams to take part in the games," said the Uefa and wrote of "strict" test and corona bubble concepts.
"There is always an emergency plan, but we are confident that the final week will be held in London."
The British government initially did not want to comment on the reports in response to a request from the dpa news agency.
ngo / Reuters / dpa