Euro 2022: Iceland star slams "shocking" and "embarrassing" venue choice

Iceland star Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir has claimed the stadium choices for Euro 2022 are “disrespectful to women’s football”.

Speaking to Their Pitch, Gunnarsdóttir revealed she was disappointed about Iceland’s two group stage matches at Manchester City’s Academy Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,000.

The two matches, against Belgium and Italy respectively, have already sold out. Iceland will also play France at Rotherham’s New York Stadium, which has a 12,000 capacity.

“I am disappointed with the arenas we have been given,” Gunnarsdóttir said. “It’s shocking – we play a tournament in England with several large arenas, and we get to play at a training facility that takes around 5,000 spectators. 

“It’s just embarrassing and it’s not the respect we deserve. They haven’t prepared for the fact that we can sell more than 4000, it is disrespectful to women’s football.”

“It would probably have come over 20,000 from Iceland to watch the matches. But family members are struggling to get tickets because they sold out as soon as they dropped.”  

Euro 2022 will be played across 10 stadiums in total, each with varying capacities. 

Old Trafford is set to host the opening match of the tournament between England and Austria. UEFA has confirmed this encounter has sold out, meaning an impressive crowd of 75,000.  

The final will be held at the 90-000 seater Wembley Stadium, while Bramall Lane, St Mary’s Stadium, Falmer Stadium and Stadium MK all have a capacity of around 30,000. 

But there are venues set to be used which can only seat a maximum of 17,000 spectators, including Brentford Community Stadium and Leigh Sports Village. 

This does appear to be a missed opportunity when considering the rapid rise in popularity of women’s