German FA cautious as Munich confirmed as Euro host city

Berlin (AFP) – The German FA on Friday cautiously welcomed UEFA’s decision to allow Munich to remain a Euro 2020 host city, amid concerns whether fans can attend games in Bavaria with Germany currently in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We look forward to great Euro 2020 matches in Munich — maybe even in front of an audience, if the pandemic’s development allows it,” said German FA president Fritz Keller in a statement.

On Friday, UEFA dropped Dublin and Bilbao as host cities over their failure to guarantee fans’ attendance, but Munich was confirmed as a venue at the last minute.

Dublin’s matches will be moved to London and St Petersburg while Seville replaces Bilbao as a host city.

However, there had been fears Munich could lose host city status with spectators at big events currently barred due to the pandemic.

The Bavarian government has agreed to 14,500 spectators at the matches in the Allianz Arena during the Euro finals

However, the figure could change “if public health was endangered by an adverse development” of the pandemic, the DFB said in a statement.

The European championship will now be held in 11 different countries from June 11-July 11.

Munich’s Allianz Arena will host Germany’s opening match of the European championship at home to world champion France on June 15.

Germany’s other group games against Portugal and Hungary will also be held in Munich as well as a quarter-final.