The next European Championship will continue to be called Euro 2020 despite being postponed by a year to 2021, UEFA confirmed on Thursday.
Following an Executive Committee meeting of European football’s governing body by videoconference, UEFA said maintaining the same name would be a way of remembering the coronavirus pandemic and the difficult times faced by the continent this year as a result.
In addition, and most importantly, UEFA had already produced huge amounts of branded merchandising before the tournament was put back by a year.
“This choice is in line with UEFA’s commitment to make Euro 2020 sustainable and not to generate additional amounts of waste,” it said in a statement.
“A change to the name of the event would have meant the destruction and reproduction of such items.”
Women’s Euro in 2022
The next women’s European Championship in England has been put back a year to 2022, UEFA confirmed on Thursday, after initially being postponed as a knock-on effect of the coronavirus crisis.
European football’s governing body confirmed that the competition will be staged from July 6-31, 2022.
“When we had to take an urgent decision on the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020, we always had the impact on UEFA women’s Euro 2021 in mind,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
“We have carefully considered all options, with our commitment to the growth of women’s football at the forefront of our thinking.”
Dismissing concerns that the women’s game might be considered an afterthought, Ceferin added that the move to 2022 ensured that the women’s Euro would be given “the spotlight it deserves”.
Moving the Euros to 2022 also avoids any clash with the Tokyo Olympics, which have been pushed back a year to 2021.