Brussels loses Euro 2020 matches to Wembley

NYON (Switzerland): London’s Wembley Stadium will host four Euro 2020 matches originally set to be staged in Brussels, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said.

The European football governing body’s executive committee decided “unanimously” to strip Brussels of its four matches due to the inability of Belgian organisers to guarantee the new stadium to the north of the capital where they would have been held could be built in time.

Wembley will now host seven matches in total, having already been allocated the two semi-finals and the final on July 12, 2020.

UEFA also announced on Thursday the opening game on June 12, 2018, would be held at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

“Due to the Eurostadium project’s failure to meet the conditions imposed by the UEFA Executive Committee during its meeting of Sept 20, 2017, the four matches (three group, one round of 16) initially scheduled to be held in Brussels will now be allocated to Wembley Stadium in London following a vote by the committee,” said Ceferin.

“We discussed with Brussels for a long time, they were not able to provide us with all the documentation.

“Until today we don’t know if they can build a stadium or not.

“We received a letter yesterday that Jan 31 there will be a final decision. But experts from administration had the opinion it was a high risk for UEFA if we wait.”

The company contracted to build the stadium in the northern suburb of Grimbergen, BTP Ghelamco, said they were able to build the 60,000-capacity Eurostadium in 18 months, but the Flanders region in which it will be situated has yet to issue a building permit.

“Right up until the last moment we did the utmost to try to get an extra delay from UEFA, but we respect their decision,” said the Belgian federation on Thursday.

Brussels was one of 13 venues picked to host this unique edition of the European Championship – to celebrate UEFA’s 60th anniversary – held across the continent rather than in a single host country.