Euro 2021: How Covid-19 changed the rules of the game (Organization, replacements, endowment …)

Twenty-four teams will compete from Friday for the Eurocup, postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic and whose rules have been adapted to the health crisis.

Rules

The format will be the same as during Euro 2016 in France, won by Portugal: a group stage, dividing teams into six groups of four, followed by four knockout rounds. Each team will play three group matches, facing each opponent once. After these meetings, the first two of each group will qualify for the round of 16, as well as the best four thirds.

In the event of a tie between at least two teams from the same group, it will be decided based on, in order, the number of points, the goal difference and the number of goals scored in their direct confrontations. The choppy matches will then begin, in a single match and with possible overtime and penalties, until the final.

Replacements

As since the resumption after the outbreak of the pandemic, which overloaded the calendar and increased the risk of injuries, five substitutions are allowed for each game, instead of three in previous editions, a rule already adopted for other competitions. UEFA has also allowed coaches to summon 26 players, but only 23 will appear on each match sheet: three will therefore have to sit in the stands, a new and potentially tricky parameter in group management.

Finally and until the first match, it will be possible to freely replace a player in case of “injury or serious illness”, medically certified, even in case of contamination with Covid-19 or “case of contact”. Goalkeepers can be substituted before each game “in case of physical incapacity”.

Suspensions

As with all major tournaments, excluded players or officials are automatically suspended for the next match in the competition, but in the event of a serious offense, the FIFA disciplinary body may increase the sanction and extend it to other competitions. Suspensions following a missed red card during the Euro carry over to World Cup qualifying matches. Side warnings, players and officials who receive two yellow cards are suspended for the next match, but their counter is reset to zero at the end of the quarterfinals.

New arrivals

Introduced at the highest level at the 2018 World Cup and regularly criticized, Video Refereeing Assistance (VAR) will make its first appearance at the Euro, which only used goal-line technology in 2016. The use or not of “referees Video assistants “remains” at the discretion of the main referee “, without recourse, specifies UEFA.

Endowment

For European football, financially strangled by the end of competitions in spring 2020 and then the resumption in empty stadiums, the euro is also a financial gamble: in 2018, UEFA planned to distribute € 371 million to the 24 participants, a discounted amount at the beginning of May. to € 331 million, while ticket sales revenue will decline due to limited sizes.

A team beaten in each match will touch 9.25 million euros, while the champion will pocket up to 28.25 million euros. In outre, the revenues of the Euro feed on the 775 millions of euros verses aux 55 fédérations européennes sur le cycle 2020-2024 under the name of the “solidarity”, and the clubs share 200 millions of euros to avoid my leurs joueurs available.

COVID-19

If a team is partially quarantined or in isolation, the game will be played as scheduled if the team “has at least thirteen players, including a goalkeeper.” If this is not possible, UEFA can reschedule it “within 48 hours”, even if that means doing it elsewhere. If this rescheduling is impossible, the body will penalize the team deemed “responsible for the cancellation of the match” with a loss loss by 0-3.