MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS, Andrei Mikhailov/. A delegation from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will arrive in Russia’s St. Petersburg in early September to assess the city's preparedness to host matches of the 2020 Euro Cup, Alexei Sorokin, the head of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Russia 2020, told TASS.

"The preparations for the Euro 2020 are in line with the schedule," Sorokin said in an interview with TASS. "We continue holding consultations both at the state level as well as at the level of [the municipal] authorities in St. Petersburg."

"Our next stage is an inspection visit by the UEFA, which is due between September 9 and 11," Sorokin added.

The UEFA reported earlier in the day that a record-breaking number of 19.3 million applications had been filed to purchase tickets to matches due on the 60th anniversary of the major European football championship next year.

"UEFA received a stunning 19.3 million ticket requests during the first sales window for UEFA Euro 2020…," UEFA press office announced in its statement earlier in the day. "UEFA Euro 2020 will be the biggest Euro [championship] ever with 3 million tickets available across 12 host cities."

Following UEFA’s statement, the press office of the LOC Russia 2020, in charge of organizing the matches of the European Championship in Russia, announced that up to a million ticket applicants (namely 994,617) out of the reported 19.3 million sought attendance to the matches in St. Petersburg.

About 81% of the 994,617 ticket applications for the 2020 Euro Cup matches in St. Petersburg were filed by Russian nationals, the press office added.

The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums in 12 cities across Europe, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), St. Petersburg (Russia), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland) and Copenhagen (Denmark).

A decision to hold the 2020 Euro Cup, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary next year, in different European countries instead of in one or two host countries was made at the UEFA Executive Committee’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on December 6, 2012.

Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one quarterfinals match of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup. The newly-built football arena in St. Petersburg hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and was also among the 12 venues of the 2018 FIFA World Cup across Russia.

A total of 24 national football teams will be playing in the final tournament of the 2020 Euro Cup. All the 55 UEFA national teams, including 12 teams from the host countries, will compete in the qualifying matches to vie for the berth in the final 24-team lineup of the quadrennial European football championship.

It is possible that some of the national teams from the 2020 Euro Cup host countries will not be playing on home soil in case they fail to clear the qualifying stage.

The draw on December 2, 2018 in Dublin determined 10 groups for the qualifying stage. The Russian national team was placed in Group I alongside with the teams from Belgium, Kazakhstan, Scotland, Cyprus and San Marino.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the major European football championship.