Bucharest gears up for Euro 2020
By Marcel Gascón
Bucharest, Jun 5 (EFE).- A year after Covid-19 emptied football stadiums across Romania, the capital city Bucharest is preparing to welcome thousands of visiting fans for the four games it will host for Euro 2020.
Hundreds of volunteers are getting ready to assist the estimated 20,000 fans arriving from Group C’s Austria, Ukraine and North Macedonia.
They will be on hand to ensure that Covid-19 pandemic safety protocol is adhered to.
The three teams will play each other at the Arena Na?ionala in the Romanian capital starting with Austria vs. North Macedonia on June 13. The venue will also host one of the round of 16 matches later in the tournament.
A total of 13,000 fans will be allowed in the stadium for the group stages, representing a quarter of the venue’s normal capacity.
Group stage tickets have already sold out, and 60% were purchased by traveling fans.
Providing that everything goes smoothly in the group stage, Romanian authorities hope to bump the number of spectators up to 50% capacity for the round-of-16, meaning 26,000 fans would be allowed into the stadium.
But those 13,000 extra tickets would be offered to Romanians who have been vaccinated against the effects of Covid-19, an incentive that the government hopes will encourage citizens to get the jab in a country beset by a significant portion of the population who are reluctant to do so.
To avoid crowds, access to the stadium will begin three hours before kick-off and each fan will be allocated a 30-minute time slot to show up for the game.
