Phil Neville’s departure wasn’t the only news confirmed today, the UEFA Executive Committee today confirmed that the postponed UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 will be played in England from 6 July to 31 July 2022. It is planned to use the same venues that were originally proposed to host the event.
The decision to move UEFA Women’s EURO came after UEFA announced on 17 March that UEFA EURO 2020 would be postponed to 2021 following the global outbreak of COVID-19 and the duty of UEFA to protect the health of all those involved in the game as well as avoiding placing any unnecessary pressure on national public services involved in staging matches while allowing domestic leagues and European competitions to be completed.
The extensive discussions leading to the move of the tournament included talks with organisers of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, with whom UEFA and The English Football Association continue to work with collaboratively to ensure that 2022 provides a memorable summer of elite sport.
The following eight host cities and ten host stadiums have been selected to host group and knockout games across England; Brighton & Hove (Brighton & Hove Community Stadium), London (Brentford Community Stadium and Wembley Stadium), Manchester (Manchester City Academy Stadium and Old Trafford), Milton Keynes (Stadium MK), Rotherham (New York Stadium), Sheffield (Bramall Lane), Southampton (St Mary’s Stadium) and Wigan (Leigh Sports Village).
The final will be staged at Wembley Stadium, seeing back-to-back men’s and women’s UEFA EURO finals in 2020 and 2021. Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to attend the tournament and millions more will watch the globally-televised event.
England previously staged the finals in 2005 – setting a European record attendance of 29,092 for the opening game in Manchester.
If you’re interested in ticketing information for UEFA Women’s EURO 2021, please click here.
I think that this is quite an obvious decision and simple decision to make and with Neville standing down then I am more hopeful that the Lionesses can make a big impact on our home tournament. I am also excited to think about the young players who might force their way into the Lionesses squad in that meantime. Personally, if Lauren James is fit and not in the squad then I’m rounding up the Barmy Army and knocking on the door of FA HQ.
