Soccer’s European Championship is now being played in 2021, although it was not yet clear what the competition was to be called.
“Although it will provisionally take place from 11 June - 11 July 2021, #EURO2020 will still be known as UEFA EURO 2020,” the governing body wrote on Twitter, three days after postponing the month-long event by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UEFA later clarified that statement as an error, saying: “No decision has yet been made on the name of the rearranged Euro.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The earlier tweet was sent by mistake,” it wrote.
The tournament is to be played in 12 cities across Europe, with the final in London on July 11. Some cities, including St Petersburg in Russia, already have Euro 2020 promotional material on display.
“We trust that all of our venues will remain the same, ensuring the tournament remains true to its original vision,” UEFA said.
Romanian soccer and public authorities on Thursday announced that they renewed obligations for Bucharest to host three group-stage games and a round of 16 knockout game.
UEFA picked 13 host cities in 2014, but Brussels later dropped out when a stadium construction project failed to get support from public authorities. Brussels’ four games were allocated to Wembley Stadium in London.
Meanwhile, Europe’s top five leagues could lose as much as 4 billion euros (US$4.33 billion) in combined revenue if the pandemic completely wipes out the rest of the season, a study by KPMG showed.
The accounting firm, one of the world’s biggest, calculated the total potential matchday, broadcasting and commercial revenues to be generated by the remaining matches in the Premier league, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 totaled 3.45 billion to 4 billion euros.
KPMG estimated that the Premier League would lose the most, with as much as 1.25 billion euros going up in smoke should the season be halted, a potential 800 million euros of that in broadcasting revenue alone.
“Broadcasters who have collective deals with leagues may claim that they want money back proportionally if matches are canceled and the season is not completed,” the report said.
The Premier League’s broadcasting revenue losses would be the highest, despite having fewer games left to play than every other league apart from the Bundesliga, which has the lowest number of teams at 18.
However clubs in the so-called “Big Five” all rely heavily on television money to help fill their coffers.
La Liga could lose as much as 600 million euros from broadcasters, the report said, while Serie A clubs stand to lose up to 450 million euros from a canceled season.
The Bundesliga and Ligue 1 stand to lose as much as 400 million and 200 millions euros respectively, it said.
Leagues across the continent have been put on hold by the spread of COVID-19, which has killed thousands of people around the world and whose epicenter is now Europe after originating in China’s Hubei Province.
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