ENGLAND’S stars are facing a potential SIX-HOUR round coach trip for the European Championship group clash with Denmark.
And the gruelling journey is all down to Uefa’s sustainability rules.
European football’s governing body are spending £25m on several sustainability measures after vowing to make the tournament in Germany the greenest ever.
One of those measures is asking qualified nations to avoid travelling to matches via air wherever possible.
The Daily Mail have stated that Uefa’s guidance is believed to have stated “that it is reasonable to expect sides to make journeys of around three hours by road or rail in order to cut emissions”.
However, it was also reported that this has not been mandated.
READ MORE ON FOOTBALL
Now the same publication is claiming that after talks with England boss Gareth Southgate, the Football Association have decided that they will follow Uefa’s directive.
The Three Lions’ second game in Group C is in Frankfurt, which is 180 miles from their Golfrestort Weimarer Land training camp near Leipzig, against Denmark.
England’s two other group games, against Serbia and Slovenia, will be staged in Gelsenkirchen and Cologne, which are both over four hours away from their base.
Therefore, coach travel “has been deemed impractical” for those journeys but is being planned for the Denmark showdown.
Most read in Football
FREE BETS – BEST BETTING OFFERS & NEW CUSTOMER BONUSES
The FA declined to comment.
Such a long trip by road has become somewhat of a rare occurrence, much to the dismay of environmental campaigners.
Players have become more used to travelling to games in flights in just a matter of minutes, with Arsenal flying to Norwich and Manchester United jetting to Leicester both being heavily criticised over recent years.
The nearest airport to England’s base is 30 miles away at Erfurt-Weimar.
Finalised travel plans must be submitted to Uefa by England and the other qualified nations by February 24.
The Olympic Stadium in Berlin is the only other stadium within driving distance of England’s tournament HQ.
But even that is further than Uefa’s three-hour guidelines.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
