UEFA official on quarantine exemption for Euros: 'You cannot please everyone'
20 June 2021, 13:05
Former Madrid President supports exemption fo UEFA officials
UEFA delegates must be given exemptions from quarantine on arrival to the UK if the Euro final is to take place here, an official at the body has warned.
Ramón Calderón is the former President of Real Madrid CF and currently holds positions in UEFA and FIFA. He spoke to Tom Swarbrick amid uproar over the proposed exemptions to quarantine rules for 2,500 UEFA delegates arriving in London for the Euro 2020 final.
"I'm sure they know that the public health is a priority...but the point is you can't please everyone," he insisted.
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He went on to tell Tom that "if you want to hold it, you need those people to be there," and the logistics of holding the tournament across Europe has meant that officials need to waive ordinary coronavirus restrictions.
Mr Calderón pointed out that officials "will have to travel in the last week of the competition" and if they were to abide by local regulations in every nation there would be no tournament.
Tom wondered what kind of changes the government should make to facilitate officials.
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Mr Calderón argued that "vaccination or PCR when they get to the stadium can be enough" and should be used instead of quarantine. "Some measures must be taken for sure," he accepted.
Tom noted that these "would be rules specific for football fans...and UEFA officials" and asked how would the FIFA VP "persuade non-football fans in this country that they should allow that difference."
"It's not easy. any decision [the British government and UEFA] make is going to be contested" he said.
He suggested that no matter what arrangement was met there would be an issue: "I"m sure some people wouldn't understand those measures."
He maintained however that UEFA delegates "cannot be ten days in quarantine, that's not possible."
