MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has an option of involving other European venues for the 2021 UEFA Euro Cup matches, in case the previously chosen host cities decide to withdraw, Alexei Sorokin, the head of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Russia-2020, told TASS on Thursday.

On March 17, UEFA decided to postpone the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup for exactly one year as a preventive measure against COVID-19. The championship is now scheduled to be held between June 11 and July 11, 2021. The European governing body of football also announced on March 13 the suspension of the Champions League and Europa League matches.

"If one of the host cities decides to step aside, there are not many options on the table," Sorokin said. "There will be either a new host city or there will be the redistribution among the previously confirmed venues."

"The second option is less labor-consuming," he said. "The redistribution of matches is the priority of UEFA."

"Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko stated earlier that Russia was ready to discuss its possible support regarding this issue," Sorokin said. "We should consider returning to this issue by the next year."

The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup were initially scheduled to be held at stadiums in 12 different cities across Europe, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint 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.

Russia’s second largest city of Saint 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 hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of 12 stadiums across the country hosting matches of 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.

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 with four teams in each.

COVID-19 spread

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,520,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 88,900 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far over 332,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 10,131 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 698 patients having recovered from the virus. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (6,698). Russia’s latest data indicates 76 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.