‘Russia is UEFA’s reliable partner’: Euro 2020 local organizing boss Sorokin hails decision to hand more matches to St. Petersburg

Russia's Euro 2020 Organizing Committee chief Alexey Sorokin has said that St. Petersburg will cope with the extra pressure of hosting additional matches which have been relocated from Dublin.

On Friday, UEFA awarded Russia three extra Euro 2020 matches after Ireland failed to provide guarantees on fan numbers.

READ MORE: OFFICIAL: UEFA awards Russia extra Euro 2020 matches after Ireland fails to provide guarantees on fan numbers

“Today the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to remove Euro 2020 matches from Dublin to St. Petersburg,” Sorokin told RT.

“Of course, this is extra pressure for us, but on the other hand it is a sign of trust toward Russia as an organizer of football matches.

"The Russian Football Union is UEFA’s reliable partner, which is always ready to help if some city turns out to be in a difficult situation. The pandemic has differently affected various cities. They worked hard all this time preparing to host matches, this is not their fault [that the pandemic hit].

“We are convinced that we will succeed. We have a good stadium with a wonderful synthetic pitch. Holding seven matches is the pressure which we can handle,” he added, outlining that the city “will cope with additional inflow of teams, fans and delegations.”

Ireland’s capital was stripped of hosting rights after failing to give assurances that the Aviva Stadium in Dublin would be able to allow a minimum of 25% capacity.

Organizers in St. Petersburg have already given guarantees that the 68,000-seater Krestovsky Stadium (also known as the Gazprom Arena) will be at least 50% full for matches, with that number possibly being increased closer to the tournament.

St. Petersburg was already due to host three matches in Group B: Belgium v Russia on June 12, Finland v Russia on June 16, and Finland v Belgium on June 21.

It will also host a quarter-final on July 2. 

The extra matches switched to St. Petersburg from Dublin are all in Group E: Poland v Slovakia on June 14, Sweden v Slovakia on June 18, and Sweden v Poland on June 23.

Euro 2020 was initially set to be held last year in a unique pan-continental format across 12 host cities. It was delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis and will instead take place between June 11 and July 11 this coming summer.

Elsewhere, Wembley Stadium in London has picked up an additional match from London, while four matches have been moved from Bilbao to fellow Spanish city Seville.