Organized in a dozen different countries, is Euro 2021 still really applicable to a pandemic?

By launching a new and innovative formula in September 2014, UEFA clearly had no idea the state of the world after nearly seven years. Thus, less than 100 days before the launch of Euro 2021, which was staged for the first time in history in a dozen different countries, Covid-19 was there and could raise questions about the event. People transfers between countries are sometimes limited, and recent sporting events indicate that nothing has been played. The UK in particular is at the heart of the problem. London will receive the semi-finals and final of the Euro Championship, but after the emergence of the “British” alternative, many countries closed their borders with the United Kingdom, for example, some Champions League matches were closed. Additionally, the latest episode of Covidgate proves to the French rugby team participating in the Six Nations Championship that there is no immune competition.

“I think the stadiums will be nearly full.”

But in terms of UEFA, don’t panic. This was confirmed by epidemiologist and public health physician Dr. Martin Blacher. “If the event were to happen tomorrow, I think it would be possible ”, He says. “Because we will not have an audience in the stands and players will be tested constantly“If the opinion is somewhat positive and it is difficult to predict the state of health on the 11th of June, the date of the opening of the competition, Martin Blacher goes further:”We can even imagine putting people on playgrounds. “, Confirms. “I think it will be almost full. So far, the European Commission is considering four scenarios:100% spectators in the stadium, 50 to 100%, 20 to 30% or behind closed doors. “

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If Daniel Koch, UEFA’s health advisor, indicated on Tuesday that no decision would be made on the presence or absence of spectators in the stands before the end of April, many arguments are for the return of the fans and the “ possibility of survival. ” Competition. “Vaccination will have progressed, and populations at risk will be vaccinated so that hospitals are less saturatedAdvanced Martin Blacher, who specifies thatEurope is relatively in the process of being vaccinated“. In terms of numbersThe United Kingdom leads the European countries with the fastest vaccination, with 31% of its population receiving an injection While France 7%. Of the twelve countries hosting Euro 2021, only Russia (3.59%) and Azerbaijan (0.64% but the most recent figures date back to February 6) have less than 4% of their population. And vaccination should be speeded up Ago “Several doses come from the Astrazeneca vaccineMartin Blacher adds.

“The organization should absolutely push governments to put in place passports for vaccines.”

With regard to the vaccine, the vaccine passport is currently at the heart of the negotiations. This will allow its holders to travel to Europe, to prove their vaccination. Thus, the viewer can be allowed to watch European football in several different countries, not just one country. “It is absolutely essential that those in charge of the organization push governments to prepare these vaccination passports, if they do not exist, they will die.“, Epidemiologist warns. The European Commission announced earlier this week that it would present the vaccination passport during March. Admittedly, not all of the twelve host cities are members of the European Union because Saint Petersburg (Russia), London, Glasgow (UK) and Baku (Azerbaijan) are not part of them, but they are a good start.

In addition, the permissibility of vaccination will also indicate whether a person is immune to the disease or if his test result is negative. For this, self-exams may be the answer. Already used in Austria and soon in Germany, they allow citizens to test themselves and get results in less than 24 hours. “Especially on mobile phones we will prove that we have tested negativeMartin Blacher explains.

Have all players been vaccinated?

Finally, the last problem, but not the least, concerns the players themselves, the first to be affected by the competition. “We can assume that all of them will be vaccinated and tested“As the epidemiologist believes. In any case, the health bubble should be the answer for the players even if its movement between different host countries makes the logistics particularly complicated.