Cardiff back in the Euro 2020 running
CARDIFF’s Principality stadium, which surprisingly missed out on staging matches for the 13- city Euro 2020 tournament, is back in strong contention to be a host venue.
It is expected that the UEFA ExCo meeting next month will rule out the proposed 60,000-seater Eurostadium in Brussels. Building work is yet to start on the project, which is plagued by political problems, and it has run out of time.
The FA of Wales have already submitted their proposals to UEFA and a delegation will visit UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin in Nyon next Monday to lobby their case. UEFA have recent evidence of the Principality’s suitability to put on three group matches and a last-16 game because it hosted the 2017 Champions League final, seen as a consolation for missing out on Euro 2020.
sweden are also in the frame, while Wembley, already down for the final and semi-finals, is a backstop. It would be cruel if Cardiff missed out again after losing narrowly in the UEFA ExCo vote to Hampden Park, who benefited from sir Alex Ferguson’s support and emotion after the death of scotland’s popular former UEFA general secretary David Taylor just before the vote.
AMERICAN TV network CBS were blocked by the Premier League from filming Oasis star and Manchester City fan Noel Gallagher (right) inside the Etihad Stadium. The directive is understood to follow the fall-out from City agreeing a £10m deal with Amazon Prime for a behind-the-scenes documentary series. The upset among TV rights-holders over City’s fly-on-the-wall project has led to the PL being a lot more watchful around media regulations. The Gallagher decision would also be influenced by CBS’s rivals NBC being important PL overseas partners. IT always rankles with the Aussies that the original Ashes urn — too fragile to move — resides permanently in the Lord’s Museum, no matter who wins the series.
And 50 cricket fans plus pundit Matthew Hoggard will be making the most of that by spending tonight in the museum in the company of the urn, watching the first Test from Brisbane, to support charity Chance to shine.
SIR IAN BOTHAM prides himself on being an English patriot and monarchist. So quite how he will handle being surrounded by vocal Aussies Adam Gilchrist, Merv Hughes, Mark Waugh, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Jason Gillespie on Australia’s Triple M Radio during the Ashes remains to be seen.