ST. PETERSBURG, February 20. /TASS/. Over 10,000 applications from all over Russia and abroad have been submitted for city volunteer services in St. Petersburg during matches of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup, according to an official presentation to a news conference on Thursday that summed up the results of the work with applications.
Russia’s program of volunteers, who will be assisting with the organization of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup matches in the country’s second largest city this summer, was launched on June 6, 2019 within the frames of the 2019 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). February 18 was the applications deadline.
"Over 10,105 applications have been registered," according to the report delivered at the news conference.
The report states that 71.3% of all applications were filed by women, adding that "an average age of an applicant stands at 19 years, while the most senior registered applicant for the volunteer job is 84 years old."
Alexander Maksimov, who is in charge of the volunteer program with the Russian Organizing Committee Euro-2020, told the news conference that Russian volunteers would have a chance to provide their services in the Hungarian capital of Budapest or in the Spanish city of Bilbao during the 2020 Euro Cup matches as part of the volunteers’ foreign exchange program.
"We have found partners in Budapest and Bilbao and our volunteers, exactly five of them, will travel to these [2020 Euro Cup] host cities, while five volunteers from Spain and Hungary will come to us as part of the international team of volunteers," Maksimov told journalists.
According to the plans, St. Petersburg is set to involve 1,500 city volunteers in various spheres, such as the transportation, "the last kilometer," cultural and entertainment programs, information and tourist services, media support, UEFA Fan Zone, navigation as well as medicine and work at the headquarters.
The requirements to become a city volunteer stipulate an age of at least 16 years by the time the 2020 Euro Cup kicks off and knowledge of foreign languages.
Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup. The newly built football arena in St. Petersburg welcomed the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of 12 venues across the country for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The over 62,300-seat capacity stadium was laid down in the western part of Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg in 2007 and commissioned in early 2017. It serves as a home stadium for Zenit St. Petersburg football club.
St. Petersburg will also offer two Fan Zones during the major European football championship — the main zone will be located on Konyushennaya Square while the other one, much smaller, on Palace Square.
The Fan-Zone on Palace Square will be operational only for a limited period of time during the European football championship and, according to plans, it will serve as a platform for broadcasting play-off matches between July 3 and 12.
The Final Draw for the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup was held on November 30, 2019 in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. Twenty-four national football teams, which have cleared the qualifications round, were divided into six groups of four teams each.
Russia was placed in Group B, and will play against Belgium (in St. Petersburg on June 13), Finland (in St. Petersburg on June 17) and Denmark (in Copenhagen on June 22).
The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums in 12 different 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) between June 12 and July 12, 2020.
A decision to hold the 2020 Euro Cup, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, in various European countries instead of in one or two hosting countries was made at the UEFA Executive Committee’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on December 6, 2012.