Foreign football fans will be able to enter Russia without visas to watch matches of the UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) Euro Cup this summer on condition that they bear official documents stating negative test results for COVID-19, the tournament’s organizers in Russia announced on Thursday.
According to the organizers, the tournament’s officials and supporting staff will be granted visas under a simplified procedure, while football fans will be able to come to Russia without visas if they have Fan-IDs.
"Traveling has been greatly reduced under the current circumstances and [the Russian] federal authorities treated this situation with understanding and managed to open borders for everyone planning to come to Saint Petersburg for the holiday of football," Alexei Sorokin, the head of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Russia-2020, said.
"However, it must be remembered that we are organizing the tournament to be as safe as possible and the permission to enter Russia [without visas] does not imply the cancellation of regulations that are in force throughout Russia, particularly a negative PCR test and other documents," TASS cited Sorokin as saying.
The championship will be held between June 11 and July 11, 2021 and Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg was among the 12 cities initially proposed in Europe to host the European championship’s matches. Saint Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup.
