Former Scottish international Craig Burley has criticised the "unfair" advantage England have accrued playing most of their EURO 2020 matches in Wembley.
A competition that was to be played in 13 venues across Europe, the impact of COVID-19 resulted in EURO 2020 taking on a slightly more limited look.
Unquestionably, one beneficiary of this change has been England.
With the exception of Saturday's quarter-final clash against Ukraine which is being held in Rome, Gareth Southgate's team have played exclusively in London. Should they reach the competition's final, six of their seven games will have been played at Wembley stadium.
"What the hell is that all about in a European Championships," an indignant Craig Burley asked on ESPN UK.
In its original guise, England's most recent defeat of Germany should have taken place in Dublin. Beyond that, however, their schedule has remained as intended.
Is it fair that England will potentially play 6 of their 7 Euros games at Wembley when they're not hosting it? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Q9D3Rug0v8
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 3, 2021
"If you're an elite country, which England supposedly are," Burley argued, nevertheless, "you can't have them playing six of their seven games in front of home fans.
"So, UEFA have made a complete hash of this if that's the case."
Of the other countries remaining in the competition, Italy, Denmark and Spain were all chosen as host nations also. To this point in the competition, three of their five games have been assigned to Rome, Copenhagen and Seville, respectively.
For Czech Republic and Ukraine, they will play in their fourth different country when lining out on Saturday evening against Denmark and England.
"We've just seen Belgium go out who've travelled all over," Burley noted, the Belgians having played in Russia, Denmark, Spain and Germany on the way to Friday's defeat to Italy.
"We've seen other teams travel all over and there has to be an element of fairness to this and playing six of the seven games - if they get to the final - in Wembley, when you're not hosting the tournament, is [not fair]."
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