13 cities to host Euro 2020, final in London

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced here Friday the list of 13 host cities that will stage Euro 2020 matches, among which London's Wembley Stadium will host the final and semi-finals.

Wembley Stadium will be the venue for the semis and finals, said the UEFA Executive Committee after selecting the 13 host cities out of 19 bids. Three group matches and a quarter-final each will be staged in Baku (Azerbaijan), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), and St. Petersburg (Russia), reports Xinhua.

Moreover, three group matches and a Round of 16 match each will be played in Brussels (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Bucharest (Romania), Glasgow (Scotland) and Bilbao (Spain).

According to the earlier decisions of the UEFA Executive Committee, Euro 2020 will be staged in 13 different cities rather than in one or two host countries as the competition will celebrate its 60th anniversary that year.

Such a move followed an initial idea revealed by UEFA president Michel Platini, who said that Euro 2020 "will be a historic occasion" with matches taking place across the continent and fans having "the unique opportunity to be part of the UEFA European Football Championship right on their doorstep".

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino hailed the move being "unprecedented", saying that an opportunity like this to give many cities and countries the possibility to host even just one part of a Euro was certainly an excellent thing and "instead of having a party in one country, we will have a party all over Europe in 2020".