Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, aims to fill half of its stadium during this year’s postponed European Championship, better known as Euro 2020, as the Union of European Associations of football (UEFA) has ended its capacity limit for matches during the coronavirus pandemic. .

According to the decision of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), the Arena in Saint Petersburg will be able to occupy 50% of its capacity of 68,000 places at the European Championship this summer, Alexei Sorokin, general manager of the organizing committee of Euro 2020 in Russia. said Wednesday. Once the Saint Petersburg authorities have given their approval, UEFA will be informed of the decision in writing.

St. Petersburg will host three group stage matches and one of the 2020 UEFA European Cup quarter-finals at Russia’s second-largest sports complex, also known as Gazprom Arena. Inaugurated for the 2018 World Cup, the stadium will host the Russia-Belgium match on June 12, June 16, Russia-Finland and on June 21, Finland-Belgium.

Sorokin explained to RIA Novosti that each city will be able to make a final decision on capacity no later than April 28, but considered that, given what has happened with the coronavirus pandemic over the past 12 months, 50% of the capacity of the stadium is a “good result”.

At its last Executive Committee meeting, UEFA recalled its 30% spectator limit for all its matches, including Euro 2020, which had been in place since last year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. UEFA has potentially given each host city permission to choose the number of supporters who will be able to access the stadiums of the European Continental Championship this summer depending on the epidemic situation in their respective countries.

“Considering the fact that 55 UEFA member associations each face a different situation in dealing with the pandemic, such a limitation is no longer necessary”, European football governing body Explain his decision Wednesday.

Meanwhile, cases of Covid-19 infection in Russia have exceeded 4.5 million, while the death toll from the virus now stands at 99,233, according to the latest The data. The country launched a mass vaccination campaign in December with its first vaccine against the coronavirus – Sputnik V. In total about 3.5 million The Russians had been vaccinated with the two doses of Sputnik V. By the end of March, about one million people had been vaccinated in Moscow, the most affected city in the country with more than 12 million inhabitants.

The 2020 UEFA European Championship – the premier football championship for 24 UEFA national football teams – is the 16th edition of the quadrennial European men’s football tournament.

One of the biggest football tournaments in the world has been postponed from last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The delayed European Championship, originally scheduled for last summer in 12 host countries, is now due to be played across the continent, including Azerbaijan and Russia, between June 11 and July 11.

With St. Petersburg, the matches of the Euro 2020 Cup were to take place in stadiums in 11 other European cities, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan). ), Bucharest (Romania). , Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland) and Copenhagen (Denmark).