By Mark Baber
January 25 – UEFA is likely to declare cities bidding to host matches in the pan-European Euro 2020 must be served by two airports to prevent travel problems.
Last month it was confirmed that Euro 2020 will be staged across different countries, as UEFA president Michel Platini suggested in June 2012, after limited interest had been expressed in hosting the whole tournament, particularly as from Euro 2016 the final tournament has been expanded to include 24 teams.
The two semi-finals and final will be held in one city and UEFA will allow two host cities with a stadium capacity as low as 30,000. 10 host stadiums will have a 50,000 capacity and those hosting the quarter-finals will need seats for 60,000 fans. The stadium that hosts the two semi-finals and final will have to have a capacity of more than 70,000.
Bids for the final and semi-finals are expected from Berlin, Istanbul, London, Madrid and Rome.
UK press comment has concentrated on whether Cardiff can meet the two airport rule. Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium is served by both Bristol and Cardiff Airports. Travel time by train from Bristol Airport, which handles over 6 million passengers per annum, to the stadium in the Welsh capital is around 70 minutes, roughly the same as from Heathrow to Wembley and 15 minutes faster than from Gatwick to Wembley.
UEFA is expected to formalise plans for Euro 2020 at its executive committee meeting on March 28th.
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