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The Euro 2021 competition is a little over a month away after it was pushed back a year because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the pandemic is far from over, the delayed Euro 2020 tournament is set to go ahead as planned this summer. The 24-nation, month-long competition gets underway on June 11, 2021. Here’s every essential detail you need to know about the delayed European championship.
Euro 2021: Who’s Hosting the Tournament?
It’s 60 years (well, 61 this year) since the Euro tournament began, and to commemorate that, the Euro 2021 matches will be held in 12 cities across Europe. That’s right; there will be no one host for the entire championship. The opening match of the championship between Italy and Turkey will be held in Rome. Both the semi-final and the final matches will be played in London’s Wembley Stadium.
Euro 2021: Competition Format
Not much has changed from the previous 2016 Euro tournament In terms of the format. There will be 24 competing to be the champions of Europe. The teams will be placed into six groups of four. The leader and runner-up of each group, plus the best four third-placed teams, will qualify for the last 16 stages of the tournament.
Euro 2021: Which Teams Are Playing?
All the European football giants, including England, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, France, Russia, and Turkey, will come face-to-face in Euro 2021. Since no single country will be hosting the competition, there was no automatic qualification spot for the host. Qualifications were purely on merit. Out of the 12 host nations, only Azerbaijan was eliminated in the qualifying rounds.
Euro 2021: Where and How to Watch
The Covid-19 crisis has made it very hard for local and international fans to watch Euro 2021 in person. Locals can’t go to live matches freely due to social distancing rules, and international fans can’t go to live matches due to travel restrictions. But that doesn’t mean you can’t watch Euro 2021 matches live. You can watch live Euro 2021 matches wherever you are on the globe.
In the United Kingdom, you can watch Euro 2021 on BBC One and ITV for free. Fans in North America and the rest of the world can also catch Euro 2021 games on streaming platforms such as Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu. All you need is a VPN service to watch Euro 2021 from anywhere in the whole wide world.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides the capacity to route your internet traffic through a server in another country. Your traffic will seem like it’s coming from that particular country, effectively changing your location. For example, you can use a VPN to shift your location to the UK and stream the competition on BBC iPlayer or ITV.
The anticipated Euro 2021 competition kicks off in a little over a month. The 24 competing nations, by holders Portugal, will be battling it out to lift the coveted trophy in Wembley on July 11. We’re looking forward to a month of football drama, and you can catch every minute of it live wherever you are despite the coronavirus restrictions.
