- UEFA asks teams to avoid air travel whenever possible at Euro 2024
- England will follow the directive despite a 180-mile trip for their second match
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England players face a six-hour round-trip bus journey to reach their Euro group match against Denmark this summer due to UEFA sustainability standards.
UEFA has pledged to make this summer’s tournament in Germany the greenest ever and is spending £25m on a range of sustainability measures, including asking teams to always avoid air travel. that is possible.
UEFA guidelines are understood to say it is reasonable to expect teams to make journeys of around three hours by road or rail to reduce emissions, although this has not been made mandatory.
Mail Sport has learned that after discussions with manager Gareth Southgate, the FA decided to follow UEFA directives for England’s second Group C match against Denmark in Frankfurt, a 180-mile journey from their training ground at Golfretort. Weimarer Land near Leipzig.
England’s other two group matches in Gelsenkirchen and Cologne, against Serbia and Slovenia respectively, are more than four hours from their base camp by road, so travel by coach has been deemed impractical.
England face a six-hour bus journey for their second Euro 2024 match against Denmark
Gareth Southgate’s team will make the trip as part of a directive to reduce short flights
England face 180-mile journey from Weimarer Land Golfresort training base
However, a three-hour coach journey remains unusual for elite players, many of whom are used to taking minutes-long flights to their club matches.
Arsenal were heavily criticized by environmental campaigners for taking a 14-minute flight to Norwich for a Premier League match a few years ago, while other clubs regularly fly short distances, with Manchester United traveling to Leicester City by plane, for example. .
The FA’s decision to travel by bus will increase the players’ travel time as the nearest airport to their hotel is just 30 miles away in Erfurt-Weimar, from where it is a 31-minute flight to Frankfurt.
As a result, the players will have to spend the night relatively late, given Southgate’s preference to return to base camp immediately after matches so they can recover properly the following day, although the 6pm kick-off should allow them to return to the venue. between midnight and 1 am.
The FA and other competing nations have until February 24 to submit their travel plans to UEFA. England’s travel plans for the knockout stages have yet to be finalised, although given the distances involved further bus travel is unlikely.
The only other venue within driving distance of the England hotel is the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, which will host the final, and even that is further than the three hours set by UEFA.