Translated material
What will be Euro 2020 in St. Petersburg?
In the summer, the European football championship will be held in St. Petersburg. How to get to matches? Will foreign fans will be allowed and what restrictions will be due to coronavirus?
How to get to Euro 2020 matches in St. Petersburg and other cities, how many fans will be allowed to stands and can fans from European countries get into the city? "Paper" says what is known about the European football championship, which was postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus.
The material was originally published on February 20 and updated on March 3 following a press conference, at which representatives of the organizing committee and Smolny clarified information about the admission of fans to the stands, as well as about the fan zone on Palace Square.
What do you need to get to the matches?
This will require a ticket for a match and a fan passport (FAN ID). A visa is also necessary for entering other Gozhizheeva cities. This does not apply to Azerbaijan, where only a passport requires Russians - while notes on visiting Armenia and Nagorno -Karabakh in the passport may serve as a reason for refusing entry.Where to buy tickets?
It is impossible to buy tickets for the European Championship right now - the last stage of sales ended in December 2019. Tickets, however, can still appear, as it was before the 2018 World Cup - then the limited parties were on sale, as some fans made a return. True, it is impossible to issue a return today - the last opportunity was in January and in UEFA has not yet been reported when it reappears again. In addition, tickets for matches with the participation of the national teams of Hungary, Northern Macedonia, Slovakia and Scotland should still go on sale. These teams were selected for the European Championship only in 2020, so tickets for their games were not sold during the main stage. In 2019, ticket prices for matches of the group stage and ⅛ finals started from 50 euros, a quarterfinals - from 75 euros, the semi -finals - from 85 euros, the final - from 95 euros. Whether the same prices will remain when returning tickets for sale is unknown. You can monitor the appearance of tickets on the UEFA website - this is the only legal source of their purchase.How to get a fan passport - FAN ID?
Only those who have already bought a ticket can receive a fan passport. At the same time, all passports issued before October 1, 2020 are already invalid, everything will have to be done again. To get a fan passport, you need to apply for this site or at the FAN ID issuing center, which is located in Passage on Nevsky Prospekt. Then the finished passport needs to be taken in the center of extradition - or order delivery.All fans will allow the stands?
UEFA is considering four scenarios of the standards of the stands: full filling, half, 20-30 % and matches without fans. Smolny adheres to the same options, without specifying which is most likely. In UEFA, it is expected that the pandemic will fade away by the summer. But for each city, a separate scenario will be selected depending on the epidemic situation - there will be no single format for all cities. Initially, it was assumed that the final decision would be made on March 5-this information is still indicated on the Russian website Euro 2020. Nevertheless, on January 27, UEFA stated that they would transfer the discussion at the beginning of April at the request of the participating countries, who are still monitoring the situation with coronavirus. Update from March 3. At a press conference on March 3, the head of the tournament organizing committee Alexei Sorokin said that the stands during the matches of the European Championship are expected to fill in 50 %. According to him, the admission of half of the fans is a “basic” option. The current epidemiological situation allows us to hope that it is he who will be implemented, Sorokin said. It is assumed that the final decision of UEFA will be voiced on April 7. On April 28, an additional discussion will be held, during which UEFA will determine whether it is possible to increase the number of fans in the stands.Will we have many foreign fans again? And is it possible to go to the match to another country?
It's hard to say. For fans with FAN ID from other countries, there is a visa-free entry into Russia at the time of Euro 2020. For Russians in European countries, there is no such possibility. The air traffic is restored today with only 23 countries. Of these, the European football confederation includes Türkiye, Switzerland, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Serbia, Finland, Greece, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Euro 2020 matches are accepted only by Azerbaijan. Therefore, it is still unclear how Russian fans get into matches in other countries. How the situation will change by summer, they do not know in the Russian Organizing Committee of the tournament. “We see how restrictions are removed. We hope that unfavorable scenarios during the euro will not be involved, ”said Alexei Sorokin, director of the organizing committee on February 13. In fact, now there are no guarantees that any foreign fan will be able to get to matches in St. Petersburg, and any Russian will be able to visit games in other countries. Everything will depend on which restrictions on the entrance will operate in each of the 12 countries hosting the tournament.And what about the fan zones?
Two fan zones will be equipped in St. Petersburg: the “Football Village of UEFA” on the stable square, which will work the entire tournament, and the fan zone on Palace Square, which will open from the quarterfinals. Fan zones will be in other cities of Russia, but so far it is not specified in which. According to the organizing committee, more than 30 regions expressed the desire to equip them. The list of fan zones intends to compile in April. Update from March 3. The chairman of the Committee on Physical Education and Sports, Anton Chantyr, during a press conference on March 3, reported that the decision on the fan zone on the Palace Square Prelimny. It is finally planned to be accepted in April.Will there be restrictions because of coronavirus?
Smolny promised to introduce additional security measures, but it is unclear what is at stake. The organizing committee admitted that the fans would be tested for coronavirus. It is also known that around the Gazprom Arena in the days of matches will be exposed “The Perimeter of Safety”, which only fans and citizens living or working on Krestovsky Island will be able to get into. At a press conference on March 3, the head of the organizing committee Alexei Sorokin said that so far it has not yet been decided whether the coronavirus test and a vaccination certificate for admission to matches will be needed. According to Sorokin, this issue is not considered now.Remind you what is there with the Russian team?
The Russian team will play in group B with Belgium, Denmark and Finland. Matches with Belgium and Finland will be held in St. Petersburg on June 12 and 16. The match with Denmark will be held on June 21 in Copenhagen.Photo on the cover: Natalia Rumyantseva / Photobank "Lori"
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