coronavirus
Euro 2020 football tournament postponed until 2021
The tournament will now be held from 11 June to 11 July 2021, the Norwegian Football Association announced.
It was planned to take place from 12 June to 12 July this summer, with England and Scotland among the 12 countries participating as hosts.
The announcement comes as the Football Association, the Premier League, the English Football League, FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship have all postponed fixtures until the start of April at the earliest.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised against mass gatherings, meaning that any remaining sporting events in the next few weeks are likely to be cancelled.
Pub operators shared their excitement for a year that was packed with sporting events with The Morning Advertiser, at the start of 2020. Now, many will be reorganising and cancelling planned events.
It was announced earlier that broadcasters BT and Sky Sport will not charge publicans for their live sport services for at least two weeks.
Friendly international matches that were scheduled to be played this month have been pushed back until June.
Wait and see
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “We are at the helm of a sport – that vast numbers of people live and breathe – that has been laid low by this invisible and fast-moving opponent.”
Co-founder of app MatchPint, Dom Collingwood, said the news was a major blow to any pub that relied on international sport to inject footfall into trade over the summer.
He said: “The reality is, however, that we have little confidence regarding when a live sport schedule will be relaunched, nor when it will be encouraged for consumers to head back into trade. Against that context, at least UEFA's move gives some clarity.
“It also creates space for the current sporting season to be completed over the summer should the crisis be resolved. If not Euro 2020, perhaps the prospect of Premier League and Champions League football in the summer will bring people out of their homes. We must wait and see.
“This is an extraordinarily challenging moment for pubs, bars, restaurants and suppliers. The most important thing right now is that the Government moves decisively to support hospitality businesses in order that they survive.”
