Boris Johnson has offered UEFA the chance to host the entire European Championship in the UK as the country’s vaccine roll-out continues to impress.
The semi-finals and final were already set to be held at Wembley in London, but the Prime Minister has now offered to host the entire tournament with plans for continent-hopping fixtures to be shelved.
AFP
In yet more positive news for football in Britain, Chancellor Rishi Sunak will outline plans to pump millions into funding the UK and Ireland’s joint-bid to host the 2030 World Cup in Tuesday’s Budget.
Speaking to The Sun, Johnson said: “We are very, very keen to bring football home in 2030. I do think it’s the right place.
“It’s the home of football, it’s the right time. It will be an absolutely wonderful thing for the country.”
It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged Britons not to break coronavirus rules and ‘blow’ progress, despite ‘exciting’ data suggesting the two vaccines being used in the UK reduce hospital admissions in over-70s by 80 per cent.
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The Health Secretary said jabs were already helping to save lives, as he heralded the study by Public Health England which indicated that the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective in reducing infections among older people.
Mr Hancock said the number of admissions to hospital are falling faster than that of cases – particularly among the older age groups who were vaccinated first. “This is a sign that the vaccine is working,” he said.
Mr Johnson added: “We are hosting the Euros. We are hosting the semis and the final.
“If there’s, you know, if they want any other matches that they want hosted, we’re certainly on for that but at the moment that’s where we are with UEFA.”
AFP or licensors
The report goes on to reveal Mr Sunak’s plan to invest £2.8million to promote the UK and Ireland’s pitch to FIFA to hold the World Cup in nine years’ time.
There will also be a further £25m invested from The Treasury into grassroots football, which would be enough to fund around 700 new pitches across the UK.
Mr Johnson insisted: “One of the things we want to do is we want to bounce back fitter.
“We want to bounce back better, but also we want to do much more to encourage sport in this country post pandemic.”
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