Russia plans allocating over 6.3 billion rubles (some $94.6 million) on the organization of matches of the 2020 UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) Euro Cup, according to the Russian Sports Ministry’s draft program published on Tuesday, APA reports ciuting TASS.
The draft program stipulates an overall sum of 6.31 billion rubles, with 708.7 million rubles ($10.6 million) for 2019 and 5.6 billion rubles ($84 million) for 2020. According to the document, 3.72 billion rubles from 5.6 billion rubles in 2020 will be provided by the regional budget and the rest of the sum will be covered by the federal budget.
The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums in 12 different cities across Europe, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
A 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.
Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup. The newly-built football arena in St. Petersburg hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of 12 stadiums across the country hosting matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
A total of 24 national football teams will be playing in the final tournament of the 2020 Euro Cup. All 55 UEFA national member teams, including 12 teams from the hosting countries, will have to play qualifying matches to vie for the berth in the final 24-team lineup of the quadrennial European football championship.
It is possible that some of the national teams from the hosting countries of the 2020 Euro Cup will not be playing on home soil in case they fail to clear the qualifying stage.
The draw on December 2, 2018 in Dublin determined 10 groups for the qualifying stage. The Russian national team was placed in Group I alongside with the teams from Belgium, Kazakhstan, Scotland, Cyprus and San Marino.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the major European football championship.
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