European football governing body UEFA have invited Denmark international Christian Eriksen and the paramedics who helped save his life during an on-field cardiac arrest to attend the EURO 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday. The brilliant Danish midfielder was resuscitated in front of shocked fans and a massive global TV audience during his nation’s first match of the tournament. Uefa said Eriksen, his wife and six medics were invited to the final, but there was no confirmation he would attend. One of the paramedics, Peder Ersgaard, said he was honoured to receive a VIP invite from Uefa boss Aleksander Ceferin. “I’m excited, like a child on Christmas Eve,” he told the Fagbladet FOA magazine. “I’m very proud of my efforts, but also of the whole team. It wasn’t a one-man effort.” Eriksen collaps...
The prime minister of Italy has called for the Euro 2020 final to be moved from Wembley due to coronavirus concerns. Mario Draghi says the level of infection in the United Kingdom means alternative venues must be considered. “I will try to stop the final being held in a country where infections are rising quickly,” he said on Monday when asked if Rome could be considered a possible replacement. Wembley is due to host five knockout matches, including both semi-finals and then the final on July 11. Italy will also play their last-16 game in London against Austria on June 26. Cases of COVID-19 have been increasing in recent weeks in the UK, fuelled by the Delta variant first identified in India, with a further 10,633 confirmed on Monday. There are also still strict travel restrictions in plac...
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has stated his belief that the current one-legged knock-out format of the Champions League’s quarterfinals and semi-finals should be considered as a full-time fixture in the competition as it is, in his opinion, “more interesting”. The one-off format, put together in order to finish up the season in a timely manner following the coronavirus-enforced suspension of sport around the world, has produced several upsets already, most notably Manchester City and Atletico Madrid being dumped out by Lyon and RB Leipzig respectively. Eight teams headed for Lisbon in August to play out the remaining fixtures on neutral ground in order to avoid squabbles over home and away advantages, and Ceferin believes having only one game to make it through makes for more exciting...
UEFA has made clear a statement which implied that teams from abandoned leagues would need to pre-qualify for next season’s Champions League. European football’s governing body had issued confusing comments which implied that teams such as Paris Saint-Germain would need to enter the competition in the first qualifying round. PSG, who remain in this season’s Champions League, were awarded the Ligue 1 title as the season was cancelled last month. But UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin appeared to warn that clubs from abandoned leagues – such as in France, Holland and Belgium – would need to enter European competition at the preliminary stages. UEFA have now clarified their comments, confirming that only teams in the positions normally needing to pre-qualify will need to be ready to compete in...