UEFA European Championship, 2020

UEFA European Championship 2020 overview

Euro 2020 is the 16th edition of the UEFA European Championship.

In contrast to previous tournaments and to mark the Championship's 60th anniversary, in December 2012 it was announced that the finals stage would be held in 12 cities across 12 countries from 12 June 2020 to 12 July 2020.

Brussels was originally selected but UEFA removed them from the list of venues in December 2017 due to the delays in building a new national stadium. Their planned games were transferred to Wembley.

Unsuccessful bids were received from Minsk, Sofia, Jerusalem, Skopje, Stockholm and Cardiff.

Subsequently, due to the restrictions imposed in Europe because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was postponed for a year and rescheduled from 11 June 2021 to 11 July 2021. It was decided that the UEFA Euro 2020 name should be retained.

With COVID continuing to influence public gatherings, UEFA set an April 2021 deadline for the original 12 venues to confirm that they would still be able to host games, albeit with a reduced capacity.

It was agreed that the games allocated to Bilbao would be transferred to Seville. Dublin could not guarantee their participation, so their three group games were allocated to Saint Petersburg and the Round of 16 tie to Wembley Stadium.

...............Country..........City.......Venue.......................Game allocation..............................Anticipated reduced capacity

1. Azerbaijan - Baku - Olympic Stadium - Group stage and quarter-finals - minimum 34,350
2. Denmark - Copenhagen - Parken Stadium - Group stage and round of 16 - minimum 11,236
3. England - London - Wembley - Group stage, round of 16, semi-finals and final - minimum 22,500
4. Germany - Munich - Allianz Arena - Group stage and quarter-finals - minimum 14,500
5. Hungary - Budapest Puskás Aréna Group stage and round of 16 - 67,215 (full capacity)
6. Italy - Rome - Stadio Olimpico - Group stage and quarter-finals - minimum 17,659
7. Netherlands - Amsterdam - Johan Cruyff Arena - Group stage and round of 16 - minimum 12,000
8. Romania - Bucharest - Arena Nationala - Group stage and round of 16 - minimum 13,000
9. Russia - Saint Petersburg - Krestovsky Stadium - Group stage and quarter-finals - minimum 34,067
10. Scotland - Glasgow - Hampden Park - Group stage and round of 16 - minimum 12,000
11. Spain - Seville - La Cartuja - Group stage and round of 16 - minimum 18,000

The 24 nations competing in the finals stage was decided in the qualifying games played between March 2019 and November 2020. For the first time since 1976, there was no automatic qualification.

After the completion of the league phase of the UEFA Nations League in 2018, the 55 competing nations were drawn into ten groups consisting of five groups of five teams (A to E) and five groups of six teams (F to J). Kosovo took part for the first time.

The draw seeding was based on the overall rankings of the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League.

The top two from each group qualified for the finals. The remaining four places were decided by play-offs played in October and November 2020 (delayed from March 2020 due to COVID). The play-offs featured two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final.

The teams in the play-offs were not decided by results from the qualifying groups, as previously. Instead, 16 teams that failed to qualify through the group stages would be selected on their performance in the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League.

The 16 nations that were guaranteed at least a play-off place were:

• League A - Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands and England
• League B - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark and Sweden
• League C - Scotland, Norway, Serbia and Finland
• League D - Georgia,