Wembley to open up to 40,000
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LONDON • The Euro 2020 semi-finals and final will be played in front of 40,000 fans at Wembley, while a capacity crowd will witness the Wimbledon finals as part of a series of pilot events in England.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a four-week delay in England to the full lifting of coronavirus restrictions - which were due to end on June 21 - because of a surge in infections caused by the Delta variant.
However, the final four matches of the European Championship at Wembley will see nearly double the crowd that saw England win their opener against Croatia 1-0 on Sunday.
The Three Lions, who yesterday called up Aaron Ramsdale to replace the injured reserve goalkeeper Dean Henderson, will also face Scotland and the Czech Republic in front of a 25 per cent capacity crowd - or 22,500 fans - at Wembley in Group D.
But a last-16 match on June 29, plus the semi-finals and final next month, will be staged in front of the largest crowd in Britain for over 15 months.
Wimbledon will be allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity during the two weeks of the tennis tournament, which was axed last year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The women's final on July 10 and men's showpiece the following day will be watched by a full 15,000 crowd on Centre Court.
"We want to gather further evidence on how we can open up all big events safely, and for good," Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said.
"The expansion of trials of the NHS (National Health Service) app and lateral-flow testing will mean that bigger crowds will be able to attend a limited number of major sporting and cultural events early this summer as part of our events research programme."
Ticket holders for matches at Wembley have to provide proof of full vaccination or a recent negative Covid-19 test result.
Wimbledon welcomed the developments and said it would announce further details today regarding spectator capacity and Covid-19 protocols for the grass-court Grand Slam, which starts on June 28.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
