Russia’s St. Petersburg ready for hosting 2020 UEFA Euro Cup matches - UEFA chief Ceferin

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg is ready for hosting matches of the UEFA’s 60th anniversary Euro Cup in 2020, Aleksander Ceferin, the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), told TASS. UEFA chief Ceferin arrived in Russia's capital this week to take part in the 68th FIFA Congress on June 13 and then to attend the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow on June 14. "The St. Petersburg Stadium already hosted matches in the FIFA Confederations Cup," Ceferin said in an interview with TASS. "It is ready for the World Cup, so there is no reason to believe that it would not be ready for the Euro 2020." "Everything is in order and it will surely host successful matches in the European Championship in two years’ time as well," the UEFA president added. Russia’s Saint Petersburg was earlier granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup. A newly-built football arena in Saint Petersburg hosted last summer the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also serves as the venue for matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The over 68,000-seat capacity stadium designed to host the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches was laid down in the western portion of Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg in 2007. The construction project was amended three times: in 2008, 2010 and 2013. The decision to hold the 2020 Euro Cup, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary that year, in various European countries instead of in one or two hosting countries was made at the UEFA Executive Committee’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on December 6, 2012. The decision came as a result of UEFA’s then-President Michel Platini’s initiative, who proposed concept of the 2020 tournament "EURO for Europe." The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums of 13 European countries in 13 different cities from each part of the continent - from St. Petersburg to Bilbao and from Dublin to Baku. Four cities in different European countries will be hosting each three group stage matches and one quarterfinal match of the 2020 Euro Cup and they are St. Petersburg (Russia), Rome (Italy), Munich (Germany) and Baku (Azerbaijan). Copenhagen (Denmark), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium) and Glasgow (Scotland) will each host three group stage matches and one match of the Last 16 round. UEFA’s Executive Committee decided that the semifinals and the final of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup will be held at the Wembley Stadium in London. Read more