After four COVID-19 cases between the Spain and Sweden squads, former Italy chief medic Professor Enrico Castellacci ‘can’t understand why UEFA didn’t require vaccines’ for Euro 2020.
The tournament begins tomorrow evening with Italy v Turkey at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
There have already been four positive COVID tests since the squads were announced, as two Spain players and two in the Sweden side – Dejan Kulusevski and Mattias Svanberg – were ordered to isolate.
Today it emerged one of the Spanish players, Diego Llorente, had tested negative, meaning he had a low viral load and it was probably a ‘false positive’ test.
The Spain squad will have their vaccinations tomorrow morning, just hours before their opening game.
“I can’t understand why UEFA didn’t require vaccinations for Euro 2020, the way they did for athletes going to the Olympics,” Castellacci told Radio Punto Nuovo.
“It’s true that with so many national teams who are vaccinated, even their opponents run fewer risks. We’ve already seen some cases emerge and there might be more, but I am counting on the Federations changing their minds on the vaccines.”
Castellacci was the Italy chief medic for many years and is now President of the association of Italian football medics.