Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 chaos as England friendlies against Denmark and Italy face axe

Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 preparations could be thrown into ­turmoil after the Danish FA said they expect their friendly at Wembley later this month to be cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

England are due to face Denmark on March 31 as one of their final warm-up games before this summer’s championship, but the game is now in serious doubt.

The FA could also be forced to cancel a friendly against Italy at Wembley on March 27, leaving Southgate with the prospect of having no further matches before he names his provisional squad for the tournament.

England are scheduled to play two further warm-up matches — against Austria and Romania — in June.

The Danish Football Union (DBU) said in a statement today: “On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and the authorities announced that all ­public activities should be restricted or completely shut down for a fortnight.

“Therefore, DBU have decided to cancel all football activities in Denmark in the period up to March 29. All football matches, events, courses, seminars, club visits and other events in broad football are cancelled.

“The friendly matches against the Faroe Islands on March 27 and against England on March 31 are expected to be cancelled. Clarified with UEFA.”

Meanwhile, clubs in this country were braced for games to be moved behind closed doors as they awaited the outcome of today’s emergency Government cobra meeting over the virus.

The Government has been working on containing the spread of the virus, but an emergency meeting today was expected to see them move its response to the delay stage.

As part of a possible crisis plan for football in England:

  • The season will not be postponed and instead matches in the Premier League, Football League and lower divisions are set to be played behind closed doors.
  • Fans are set to be able to stream every game at home.
  • No games will be shown in pubs because of the health risk if large groups of people gather.
  • Only players, team officials, broadcasters and journalists are set to be allowed to attend games.

The dramatic moves are viewed as the only way to end the current season, but lower league clubs are worried about the financial implications of hosting matches without ticket sales.

The Premier League has been the last major European league to move towards playing matches behind closed doors. Arsenal’s game against Manchester City last night was postponed after Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis confirmed he has tested positive for Covid-19, but the Premier League said yesterday that they were planning for matches this weekend to go ahead as normal.

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But clubs were today braced for the possibility of matches being moved behind closed doors. Should that happen, all Premier League season-ticket holders and fans with tickets for individual games are set to be able to stream matches into their homes. Football League clubs already offering such a service via their iFollow ­platforms.

On the possibility of playing games without fans, Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder said: “I think it is coming, maybe even in the next 24 to 48 hours. It has picked up pace.”

Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony today warned playing matches behind closed doors could put some clubs “out of business”.

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