Euro 2020: Russia Games Host Under Threat
Russia’s staging of games at Euro 2020 could be under threat after a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) committee recommended the country be banned from hosting sports events for four years.
Russia could also be banned from next year’s Tokyo Olympics – having also been excluded from the 2018 Winter Games – and other major competitions.
Wada’s compliance review committee (CRC) recommended a raft of measures after declaring the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) non-compliant over inconsistencies in anti-doping data.
One of the proposals is to withdraw the right to host an event already awarded unless it’s “legally and practically impossible”.
St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, is a venue for Euro 2020 group games and a quarter-final tie – a fixture potentially involving England.
Wada’s executive committee will consider the recommendations and make the final decision at a meeting in Paris on 9 December.
The CRC made its recommendations based “in particular” on a forensic review of inconsistencies found in some of the data obtained by the agency from the Moscow Laboratory in January 2019.