Today St. Petersburg hosted a news conference on the results of the European Football Championship matches in St. Petersburg. The key results of the EURO 2020 in St. Petersburg were summed up by General Director of the EURO 2020 Local Organizing Committee in St. Petersburg Alexei Sorokin, with Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko speaking via videoconference.
St. Petersburg hosted seven EURO 2020 matches, including two featuring the Russian national team. The European Championship concluded for the Saint Petersburg Stadium with the Spain — Switzerland quarter-finals, which the Spanish team won by penalties. In total, over 132,000 fans attended the matches on Krestovsky Island. The highest attendance was recorded at the Russia — Belgium match (26,264 spectators). There were 140,000 applications for FAN IDs. The northern capital ranked second among all the cities hosting EURO 2020 in terms of hosted matches.
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that the EURO 2020 was held at a high level in Russia. According to him, the organizers did everything possible for fans to receive a lot of positive emotions from visiting Russia and St. Petersburg. Dmitry Chernyshenko was sure that in the future Russia would have excellent prospects to host other large international sporting forums.
General Director of the EURO 2020 Local Organizing Committee in St. Petersburg Alexei Sorokin stressed that heads of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) had praised the level of the tournament organization in St. Petersburg.
"It is our opinion that everything worked out just fine. We welcomed foreign fans and filled the stadium as far as possible in the current epidemiological situation, and everything took place in a good, warm and hospitable atmosphere that united football fans from various countries. We have done our best in the current conditions for foreign fans with FAN IDs, including visa-free entry, free rides, and our foreign friends were able to use the city's entire cultural potential," Alexei Sorokin said.
During the tournament, over 200,000 football fans visited fan zones on Konnyushennaya Square and at the Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg. And a public viewing zone is operating on Palace Square on the key days starting from July 2.
Special attention was paid to coronavirus prevention measures.
"Constant tests were carried out for the employees and contractors of the EURO 2020 Local Organizing Committee: 22,600 tests in total. The health and safety of the football festival's guests and participants have always been our priority," Alexei Sorokin said.
An international volunteer team helped organize football celebrations in St. Petersburg. Over 1,200 from 14 countries were ready to help the guests of the championship at any time. The youngest volunteer was 18 years old, and the oldest one was aged 75.
"Thanks to the well-coordinated work of the entire team of the organizing committee, we managed to hold a tournament that will remain in the memory of fans for a long time. I would like to thank the St. Petersburg administration and everyone who worked on behalf of the city for the EURO 2020 to succeed in Russia," stressed the Organizing Committee's general director.
Big international football will return to St. Petersburg in less than a year. The Saint Petersburg Stadium will host the Champions League Final on May 28, 2022. According to Alexei Sorokin, a lot of focus will be put on the preparations.
"This is a key event of global club football. This is the kind of game that really takes a year of preparations. We are working in close cooperation with the St. Petersburg government. A large number of charter flights is expected. We want to believe that fans will be able to enjoy the football celebrations without restrictions," Alexei Sorokin concluded.
There are three matches left in the UEFA EURO 2020. On July 6 and 7, Italy will play vs Spain and England will play vs Denmark in the semi-finals, and the final match will take place on July 11. All matches will be held in London.
