GERMAN legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has claimed Uefa want to host Euro 2020 in ONE country.
The former striker turned Bayern Munich chief executive said Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin was backing the idea of scrapping the scheduled 12-nation event in favour of a single host.
German legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge thinks the Euros will be played in just one country – not 12Credit: AFP
Rummenigge said: “We must not forget that the idea of this special hosting of the tournament came about when the coronavirus did not yet exist.
“At that time it was an initiative of the EU Commission that wanted to have football shown all over Europe.
“But I know that the UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin – who is incredibly careful with corona – is thinking about whether it wouldn’t make more sense in these times to play the tournament in just one country.
“That would be with a corresponding hygiene concept, of course.”
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Uefa remain insistent there are no current plans to change the delayed tournament, due to be completed with the semi-finals and final at Wembley.
Swiss FA president Dominique Blanc suggested last week that the tournament could be held in Russia, Germany or entirely in London.
But all 12 scheduled host cities have been asked by Uefa to confirm their preferred plans for the number of fans allowed inside grounds.
So far, all the planned hosts, including the Azerbaijan capital Baku, have signalled they want to continue as scheduled and Uefa is wary of the potential legal costs of scrapping contracts worth millions.
Portugal won the Euros in 2016 and will be looking to defend their titleCredit: AFP – Getty
Despite that, Uefa have confirmed that ticket holders will be entitled to full refunds if scheduled games are moved to venues more than 35 miles away from the intended stadium.
Uefa said: “If a match needs to be moved to another venue, UEFA will firstly decide if the tickets for the rescheduled match remain valid.
“When making this decision, UEFA would take into account various factors, such as whether the new venue is within a reasonable travelling distance from the original venue.
“In the event that a match is moved to a venue which is more than 50km away from the original venue, ticket buyers would be entitled to a full refund of the ticket price if they cannot, or do not wish to, attend.”
A final decision on the tournament is due to be made in March.
Rummenigge added: “In the next few weeks, UEFA will and must make a decision on how and where the tournament should take place.
“That will not be easy. But the way I got to know Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA will make the right decision with great care and wisdom.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
