Football: Belgium cancels friendly with Portugal, French PM says Euro 2016 will go on

BRUSSELS (REUTERS, AFP) - The Belgian football association has cancelled next Tuesday's international friendly against Portugal in Brussels over security fears after the Islamic State attacks in the city.

"The Red Devils match against Portugal, scheduled for Tuesday evening at the King Baudouin Stadium, will not take place," it said on its website.

The move came a day after the triple blasts that killed some 30 people and left around 250 injured in the Belgian capital.

The local media said the Belgian football union had proposed to switch the venue of the game to Portugal after originally struggling to get a positive response from officials at home about going ahead with the tie.

Marc Wilmots the national coach, who was an all-action midfielder and who played at four World Cups for the Red Devils himself, had wanted the game to go ahead as scheduled in Brussels.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls promised that this summer's Euro 2016 football tournament would go ahead as planned in France between June 10-July 10, for which Belgium are among the favourites.

Asked whether it was wise to maintain the event, given the level of threat of there being another terrorist attack, he said not to do so would be "a victory for terrorists".

An international friendly between Netherlands and France scheduled for Friday evening "will take place as scheduled" despite the attacks in neighbouring Belgium, the Royal Dutch Football Federation said on Wednesday.

The Dutch are scheduled to meet Les Bleus at the Amsterdam Arena.

Separately, Uefa said it is not considering staging the European Championship behind closed doors but is working on "contingency plans" because of security fears after the Brussels attacks, a spokesman for the European football governing body told AFP on Wednesday.

"We are confident that all security measures will be in place for a safe and festive Euro and therefore there are no plans to play matches behind closed doors," spokesman Pedro Pinto said.

"Nevertheless we are working on contingency plans and on multiple scenarios around crisis situations since we take the security of all participants very seriously," he said.

His comments came after an Italian Uefa vice-president said Europe's governing body could not rule out holding games without fans for the tournament.

Giancarlo Abete had told Italian media on Tuesday that while games behind closed doors could not be ruled out, it was not yet being considered.

"From a technical point of view, the risk of 'closed doors' can always exist because we are talking about a competition where the matches must take place," the Italian vice president told Radio 24.

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