© EuroFootball.com
UEFA decided last week that the 2020 European Football Championship will not take place in one or several countries, but in as many as 13 cities across the continent.
UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino announced that the championship will take place in only one stadium in each country. The semifinals and final are planned to be held in the same specific stadium. The cities and stadiums which will host the 2020 European Football Championship will be announced next September.
Interestingly, Estonia is also considering joining the competition to be one of the hosts. According to official sports leaders in the country, Estonia would like to submit an application to host one of the group matches at the stadium in Tallinn.
"The Estonian Football Federation is not saying anything about this – they are silent. I have spoken with the Estonian football leadership, but they are silent about such plans. And what could they host? After all, they do not even have a stadium that meets the minimum requirements for the European Championship. Estonians would have to build an extension if they wanted to accommodate at least 30,000 fans in their stadium," said Julius Kvedaras, President of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF).
UEFA has approved stadium requirements for all candidates to host the 2020 championship: group stage and round of 16 must take place in stadiums with at least 50,000 seats, quarter-finals in 60,000-seat stadiums, and semifinals and final in 70,000-seat stadiums. There are exceptions: two cities will be allowed to host group matches in arenas with 30,000 seats, but the construction of all new stadiums must start at the latest by 2016.
"Us? Of course, we can apply to host the group stage matches of the 2020 European Football Championship, and UEFA would seriously consider it. But on the condition that the government guarantees that the National Stadium will finally be built in the Šeškinė district of the capital," said the leader of the LFF.
The head of the Lithuanian Football Federation joked that several UEFA delegations had visited our country, and their members jokingly or seriously repeated the same thing: "You have excellent infrastructure necessary for organizing various football competitions. You just lack one non-essential detail – a stadium suitable for hosting tournaments."
Although J. Kvedaras assured that a 30,000-seat stadium in Vilnius would be a luxury and it would be worth considering as a serious host what to do with the building after the championship and how to make the stadium profitable, he insisted that the championships would not cost Lithuania.
"This year, we are hosting the 19-year-old European Championship in Marijampolė, Alytus, and Kaunas. The preparation, organizational matters – UEFA covers everything. The same would be for the European Championship. The only thing is that all television rights belong to UEFA and as the organizer of the competition, you cannot receive additional income from TV broadcasts," said J. Kvedaras.
"We would consider and maybe even be ready to ask UEFA for the battles of the European Football Championship, but we would like guarantees from the government. Because now everything is upside down. We presented arenas for the European Basketball Championship, now they are almost useless to anyone. There were plans to build stadiums, but now there is a craze for building swimming pools – no matter who you ask, everyone explains that thoughts about stadiums should be postponed for a later time because now only swimming pools will be built," J. Kvedaras jokingly quipped.
