New FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill has said he is confident Dublin will stage its four games at Euro 2020 and that there will be fans present at the Aviva Stadium.
Hill said “it's just a question of how many”.
The Irish Times report that Hill confirmed talks are ongoing between the FAI, UEFA and Government.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Hill was confident that fans will be able to attend the games despite the uncertainty of the Covid-19 situation.
“Uefa wants to see fans in all 12 of the stadia and all 12 of the cities and we are planning on the basis that we will have fans in the Aviva Stadium,” he said. “That is the current situation and that is the plan.
“We had a meeting of the steering group, the CEOs of the federations that cover the 12 cities on Wednesday morning,” he continued. “It’s fair to say Uefa are pushing forward because of the timetables involved. They have real people who bought real tickets for matches and who bought transport and hotels etcetera too.
Structure
“At some point they need to take decisions in relation to the structure of the tournament. What they would like to see, as we all would, is as many people as possible in the grounds to watch the Euro finals play out. That is part of what makes a Euro finals or special. Everyone wants to see that. It is now a situation whereby all 12 of the cities are working with Uefa and their governments to work out how many fans they can get safely into their individual stadia.
“In reality we’re all learning from each other in terms of the approaches that are being taken. We have a four- to six-week period to do that and in early April Uefa will take its decisions. But to be absolutely clear, we are committed to the hosting of our four games and we will have fans in the stadium . . . it’s just a question of how many.”
