President of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin says St. Petersburg is ready to play a starring role in the upcoming UEFA Euro 2020 tournament next summer.

Speaking with RT Sport’s Alexey Yaroshevsky, Ceferin said the Russian city, which has already played host to the World Cup, the UEFA Champions League final and the Confederations Cup, is perfectly set to stage crucial matches during next summer’s football extravaganza.

“St. Petersburg in Russia is absolutely ready,” he said.

“We have seen it last year in the World Cup. It was a great test of how ready you are, and it was perfect. I was here, and we are not worried at all about St. Petersburg.”

The state-of-the-art Gazprom Arena, locally known as Krestovsky Stadium, can hold up to 80,000 fans and was the centerpiece of St. Petersburg’s successful Euro 2020 bid.

Ceferin said the stadium, and the surrounding infrastructure, made the city a perfect choice to host matches in the upcoming tournament

“First of all, the federations have to bid with one venue, so they bid it with St. Petersburg,” he explained.

“We’ve chosen it lately for the Champions League final because we know it can be a great experience.

“(The Champions League) has to go to different parts of Europe, but at the same time to the places where infrastructure is perfect and there’s an interesting experience for the fans.”

The UEFA chief also said the arena, along with the other 11 host venues, will be packed with fans throughout the tournament, with huge demand for tickets to the matches.

“Three million people will have the chance to be in the stadiums during the Euros,” said Ceferin.

“Until July we got 19 million requests for tickets, so everything will be sold out, for sure.”

Source: RT