BERLIN • Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a major figure in European football, says Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is considering holding this year's European Championship in a single country, and not in 12 as originally planned.

The delayed Euro 2020 Finals, scheduled to be played in 12 host cities across Europe from June 11 to July 11, have already been pushed back a year due to problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The host cities are Glasgow, Dublin, Bilbao, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Rome, St Petersburg, Bucharest, Budapest and Baku, with the semi-finals and final set for London's Wembley Stadium.

The 24-team, month-long showpiece is a major revenue generator for Europe's football governing body and national federations.

However, high numbers of virus cases across the continent are threatening to force another rethink. In the major footballing nations, the United Kingdom (nearly 3.5 million cases with 91,000 deaths), France (2.9m, 71,000), Italy (2.4m, 83,000), Spain (2.3m, 54,000) and Germany (2m, 49,000) rank in the top 10 of the world's most affected countries.

"One must not forget that the idea of this special tournament was born when the coronavirus did not yet exist," Rummenigge told Munich-based newspapers Munchner Merkur and TZ.

"At the time, it was an initiative of the EU Commission, which wanted football to be represented throughout Europe.

"But I know that Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin - who is incredibly careful with Covid-19 - is thinking about whether it wouldn't make more sense... to play the tournament in just one country."

A Uefa spokesman did not deny the suggestion to AFP on Tuesday, but said there is "no information" and "no comment to make at this stage".

The spokesman added that Uefa is continuing to work on the basis the Finals will be held throughout Europe.

"In agreement with the 12 cities, we are currently working on four scenarios - full stadiums, stadiums between 50 and 100 per cent full, 20 to 30 per cent full, and behind closed doors," he said.

Uefa expects to announce a decision on whether the Finals can be held as planned on a "city by city" basis on March 5. The host cities have been asked to come up with two or three plans and it is possible different approaches will be taken in each venue.​

Last week, it was reported Ceferin had noted that vaccination programmes, which are moving at different speeds across the host countries, would be key to sticking to the original plan.

Separately, Switzerland's football chief Dominique Blanc had said among the options could be for the event to be staged in one country or one major city with enough stadium capacity, while former Germany coach Berti Vogts had demanded that Uefa move the Finals to December.

One threat to the tournament would come if, like last year, domestic leagues had to stop due to the pandemic, pushing back the club competitions.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS