ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/. Football fans from various countries submitted 106,500 applications to receive the so-called Fan-IDs, which are required to attend 2020 UEFA Euro Cup matches in Russia’s St. Petersburg, the press office of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media said in a statement for TASS on Tuesday.

"As of June 15, we have a total of 106,500 applications registered to receive Fan-IDs, which include 70,000 applications from Russian nationals, 9,000 applications from Finland, 3,500 applications from Poland and approximately 1,000 applications each from Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Slovakia and Germany," according to the statement.

"We call on everyone, who has not obtained a Fan-ID yet, to start acting in advance in order to avoid waiting lines," the statement continued.

"All spectators at the stadium, as well as football fans in the designated Fan Zones must be responsible taking care of their health as well as of the health of people around them - wearing masks and keeping a social distance is a requirement," the statement added.

Russia’s Fan-ID innovation was successfully tested during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and earned high marks from the world’s governing football body of FIFA. A Fan-ID holder was allowed to enter the country without having a Russian visa and stay for the duration of global football tournaments. Fan-IDs were obligatory, in addition to purchased tickets, in order to attend football matches.

A Fan-ID for a foreign football fan coming to St. Petersburg to watch 2020 Euro Cup matches allows him or her to enter Russia without a visa for the period between May 29 and July 2, 2021.

2020 UEFA Euro Cup

On March 17, 2020, UEFA announced it was postponing the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup for exactly one year as a preventive measure against the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus.

The championship was rescheduled to be held between June 11 and July 11, 2021, and Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg was picked as a venue. It was among the 12 cities initially proposed in Europe to host European championship matches. St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup.

On April 23, St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three additional matches of the UEFA Euro Cup after Ireland’s Dublin and Spain’s Bilbao pulled out of the organization of the European football championship’s games citing anti-COVID-19 measures.

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 the 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 the home stadium for the Zenit St. Petersburg football club.

On May 21, a local sports official in St. Petersburg announced plans about opening on July 2 a Fan-Zone on Palace Square to watch matches of the UEFA matches. The Russian city initially offered two Fan Zones for the major European football championship, and the main zone was set to be located on Konyushennaya Square while the other one, much smaller, on Palace Square. The municipal authorities later announced a decision to open another Fan Zone, near Yubileyny Sports Palace.

Following the pullout of Bilbao and Dublin from the list of the championship’s hosting cities, the rescheduled 2020 UEFA Euro Cup is now staged in 11 cities, namely in London, England; Munich, Germany; Rome, Italy; Baku, Azerbaijan; St. Petersburg, Russia; Bucharest, Romania; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Budapest, Hungary; Glasgow, Scotland; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Seville, Spain.