The UEFA European Football Championship has been held every four years since 1960. However, the 2020 competition was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe. The Euro 2020 tournament kicks off on June 11, exactly one year after the tournament was scheduled to take place. Here's everything you need to know about the delayed football tournament.
Euro 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the UEFA European Championship. In honour of this event, this year's competition will be spread across the continent. As a result, 12 stadiums in different European cities are set to host the matches. The opening game (Turkey vs Italy) will take place in Stadio Olimpico in Rome while both the final and the semi-final matches will be played at London's Wembley stadium.
All the European football powerhouses, including England, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, France, Russia, and Turkey, will be playing in the Euro 2021 competition. Qualifications were purely on merit; there were no automatic qualifications for the hosts of Euro 2021. Out of the 12 host countries, only Azerbaijan was eliminated in the qualifying group stage.
In terms of format, not much has changed from the 2016 tournament. There will be 24 sides battling it out to be crowned the champions of Europe. The teams will be split into six groups of four. Each group's winner and the runners up, plus the top four third-placed sides, will advance to the knockout stages of the competition.
As stated above, Euro 2021 will be almost identical to the 2016 competition. However, there are a few minor changes in this year's tournament. For instance, teams will be allowed to select a 26-man squad instead of the traditional 23. This change has been implemented to reduce the load on players after a compressed season of club football due to Covid-19. Euro 2021 will also be the first Euro competition to use VAR.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the 16th edition of the flagship UEFA tournament will be almost impossible to watch in person. However, you can always catch live Euro 2021 matches on the telly. In the UK, you can watch the games on BBC and ITV. Euro 2021 matches will also be shown live on UEFA's official website and YouTube channel.
For international fans with no access to live coverage in their countries, you can stream the match on UEFA's YouTube channel. However, the stream may not be available in your country, so you need to prepare for that by getting a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Install a VPN and change your location to the UK or any other country with access to the live Euro 2021 coverage to enjoy the matches.
The 2021 UEFA European Football competition is almost upon us. Due to Covid-19 related travel restrictions, thousands of football fans around the world will not be able to attend the matches in person. However, you can still enjoy the matches wherever you are, thanks to the power of the internet.
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