Euro 2020 to keep original name despite switch to 2021

PARIS: The next European Championship will continue to be called Euro 2020 despite being postponed by a year to 2021, the sport’s European governing body UEFA has confirmed.

The decision comes following an Executive Committee meeting of European football’s governing body by videoconference. UEFA said maintaining the same name would be a way of remembering the coronavirus pandemic and the difficult times faced by the continent this year as a result.

UEFA had already produced huge amounts of branded merchandising before the tournament was put back by a year.”This choice is in line with UEFA’s commitment to make Euro 2020 sustainable and not to generate additional amounts of waste,” it said in a statement. A change to the name of the event would have meant the destruction and reproduction of such items.”

In an unprecedented move, UEFA last month announced the postponement of Euro 2020 shortly after football all across the continent ground to a halt as COVID-19 spread. More than 110,000 people have now died from the virus in Europe.

The tournament is now scheduled between June 11 to July 11 next year. It will feature 24 teams and will be played in twelve different cities all across the continent, with the semi-finals and final in London.

The meeting also decided that Euro 2021 Women’s Championship, to be held in England, will be played one year later in July 2022. The opening match will be held on July 6 with the final on July 31.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said the aim of the switch was to avoid a clash with other events as well as the men’s tournament in 2021. The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will also feature women’s football.

“We have carefully considered all options, with our commitment to the growth of women’s football at the forefront of our thinking. By moving UEFA Women’s Euro to the following year, we are ensuring that our flagship women’s competition will be the only major football tournament of the summer, providing it with the spotlight it deserves,” he said.