Wembley in pole position to stage extra games for Euro 2020

Wembley is on standby to stage more matches at the European Championship ahead of today’s deadline for host venues to confirm how many supporters they can accommodate.

The Daily Telegraph has been told the national stadium is in pole position to be asked to step in, amid fears that one or more of those scheduled to co-host the coronavirus-ravaged tournament will be stripped of games.

England has long been favourite to take on any reallocated matches, and The Daily Telegraph revealed in January those could be played in the North instead of at Wembley, amid government ambitions to bring the Euros to other parts of the country.

London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has since also been touted as a strong contender to step in.

But The Telegraph has been told Wembley is the most likely venue for spare matches, because a final decision on where the tournament will be played may not be taken for almost a fortnight, less than eight weeks before the June 11 kick-off.

With a capacity of 90,000, Wembley is the UK’S largest football stadium by some distance, with Uefa able to sell more tickets there than at any other ground.

The threat remained yesterday of one or more host cities being axed for failing to submit plans aimed at ensuring a capacity of at least 25 per cent for their fixtures – which would guarantee at least 10,000 spectators at almost every match.

Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, due to host three group games and a last-16 tie, is the venue most at risk, after prime minister Micheal Martin said last week it would be “very challenging” to have fans back at Irish stadiums this summer.

There have also been doubts about Glasgow’s Hampden Park, but Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, said yesterday she was hopeful “a reasonably good number” of fans would be able to attend the four planned games there.

The Football Association is expected to submit plans today for Wembley to be at least half-full for both semi-finals and the final – with the ability for attendance to be scaled up further at short notice.

The stadium is scheduled to host seven games, after three group matches and a last-16 tie originally scheduled for Brussels were reallocated to it in 2017. That handed England home advantage for all but the last 16 and quarter-finals stage.

A steering group of national associations will meet tomorrow to assess today’s submissions from the host venues, ahead of an announcement on Friday about whether Uefa will move forward with all 12 of them. If it is unable to do so, a further meeting will be held just over a week later to decide where any spare games will be held.

Aleksander Ceferin, the Uefa president, has said every venue must guarantee fans will be allowed.