The COVID-19 pandemic completely flipped the world upside down in 2020, as life as we know it was significantly changed due to the spread of the virus.

The sporting world especially felt the impact of COVID-19. In North America, the NHL and NBA seasons were put on a pause, while the MLB campaign was delayed until later in the summer.

In Europe, soccer leagues across the continent were forced to do the same even though the majority of them were in the thick of title races. The biggest loss was the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020, the largest European soccer tournament.

UEFA Euro 2020 has since been rescheduled to June 11-July 11, 2021, but the decision to push it back a year came with major financial ramifications.

What’s the Potential Loss of Revenue for Postponing UEFA Euro 2020? 

According to the above infographic from Statista, the estimated cost of postponement was 300 million euros ($362 million US), whereas if the event was cancelled entirely, that number would rise to 400 million euros ($483 million US).

The 24-team European championship, which was scheduled to be held across Europe to mark UEFA’s 60th anniversary, had never been postponed in its existence. 

Moving the Euros to June/July 2021 means moving into a slot reserved by FIFA for its newly expanded Club World Cup, featuring eight European clubs, which had yet to find financing or agree to a format after tensions with UEFA over the concept.

The host cities of Euro 2020, the first to be staged across the continent rather than hosted by a single or joint-host nations, are Glasgow, Dublin, Bilbao, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Rome, Saint Petersburg, Bucharest, Budapest and Baku, with the climax set for London’s Wembley Stadium.

What’s the Format for UEFA Euro 2020?

Here’s a breakdown of the teams participating in the group stage:

Group A: Turkey, Italy, Wales, Switzerland

Group B: Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia

Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, North Macedonia

Group D: England, Croatia, Scotland, Czech Republic

Group E: Spain, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia

Group F: Hungary, Portugal, France, Germany

The format will be the same as for UEFA Euro 2016. The top two in each of the six final tournament groups will proceed to the round of 16 along with the four best third-place finishers.

Twenty teams – the top two in each of 10 groups – reached the tournament via the European qualifiers from March to November 2019.

Four more countries qualified via the playoffs, which were scheduled for October 8, 2020 (semifinals) and November 12 (finals).

UEFA Euro 2020 Odds

According to our UEFA Euro 2020 odds page, England is the +500 front-runner to go all the way, followed by Belgium (+550), France (+550), Spain (+700), Germany (+800) and Portugal (+800) at the top of the list.

In UEFA Euro 2020 Top Goalscorer Odds, England’s Harry Kane is the Golden Boot fave at +500. France’s Kylian Mbappe (+800), Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku (+800), Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (+900), France’s Antoine Griezmann (+1600) and the Netherlands’ Memphis Depay (+1600) are also in the hunt, according to oddsmakers.

If you’re looking for odds on countries to advance from their respective groups, we have you covered. Here’s a look at the odds for each grouping in UEFA Euro 2020:

Odds to Win Group A

Odds to Win Group B

Odds to Win Group C

Odds to Win Group D

Odds to Win Group E

Odds to Win Group F