Football: German FA cautious as Munich confirmed as Euro 2020 host city

BERLIN: The German football association (DFB) on Friday (Apr 23) cautiously welcomed UEFA's decision to allow Munich to remain a Euro 2020 host city, amid concerns whether fans can attend games in Bavaria with Germany currently in the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We look forward to great Euro 2020 matches in Munich - maybe even in front of an audience, if the pandemic's development allows it," said German FA president Fritz Keller in a statement.

On Friday, UEFA dropped Dublin and Bilbao as host cities over their failure to guarantee fans' attendance, but Munich was confirmed as a venue at the last minute.

Dublin's matches will be moved to London and St Petersburg while Seville replaces Bilbao as a host city.

READ: Seville and St Petersburg handed Euro 2020 matches

However, there had been fears that Munich could lose host city status with spectators at big events currently barred due to the pandemic.

The Bavarian government has agreed to allow 14,500 spectators at the matches in the Allianz Arena during the Euro finals

However, the figure could change "if public health was endangered by an adverse development" of the pandemic, the DFB said in a statement.

The European Football Championship will now be held in 11 different countries from Jun 11 to Jul 11.

Munich's Allianz Arena will host Germany's opening match of the tournament at home to world champion's France on Jun 15.

Munich will also host Germany's other group games against Portugal and Hungary, as well as a quarter-final.