Soccer Sours Talks With Johnson in Merkel’s Final U.K. Visit
- German chancellor warns U.K. over crowd sizes for Euro matches
- Comes amid broader row over opening foreign travel in pandemic
Angela Merkel during a joint news conference with Boris Johnson on July 2.
Photographer: Andy Rain/EPA/Bloomberg
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Differences over soccer soured Angela Merkel’s final visit to the U.K., as the German chancellor warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his plans to boost crowd sizes for European Championship matches in London risked spreading the delta coronavirus variant.
The U.K. government has said that more than 60,000 fans will now be allowed to attend the championship semifinals on July 6 and 7 and the final on July 11, the largest sporting crowds allowed to gather in 15 months. The matches at London’s Wembley Stadium will be at 75% of capacity.