BAKU: Wales national team players take part in a training session yesterday at Tofiq Behramov stadium in Baku, four days ahead of the team's Euro 2020 football tournament opening match. – AFP

BERLIN: Germany's government announced yesterday it will allow England, Scotland and Wales to enter the country without quarantine to play at Euro 2020 despite a recent rise in cases linked to the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Britain. The three teams could potentially reach the quarter-final held in Munich on July 2.

If that were the case, they would be exempt from the rule that travellers from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland must currently observe a 10-day isolation period due to the virus strain of concern first identified in India. "The people accredited for the European football Championship are exempt from the quarantine obligation, even after arriving from an area impacted by a variant" Berlin said in a statement.

"This exemption concerns all the people who have been accredited by the organizing committee for the preparation, participation, the holding and the follow-up of international sporting events," it added. The exemption does not include fans, who will be obliged to follow German government self-isolation rules.

Euro 2020 starts on Friday as Italy host Turkey in Rome with the Bavarian city hosting three group games as well as the last-eight match. Around 14,000 fans will be allowed into the Allianz Arena for the fixtures. - AFP