England face gruelling six hour coach journey at Euro 2024 due to UEFA rule

Gareth Southgate’s men will have to take the team bus (Picture: Getty)

England are set for an arduous six-hour roundtrip by coach for their second Euro 2024 group stage game against Denmark.

The FA have chosen the five-star resort of Golfresort Weimarer Land, near the town of Blankenhain, as their base for this summer’s tournament which gets underway in Germany on June 14.

The clash with the Danes on June 20 is taking place in Frankfurt – which is 180 miles away from their camp – a distance which would ideally be covered by plane for their star-studded squad from a conditioning point of view.

However, UEFA are keen to make this year’s European Championships the most environmentally-friendly on record, and as part of this drive they are spending £25m on a host of sustainability measures.

According to the Mail, this includes encouraging teams to make journeys of around three hours or less by road or by rail in an attempt to cut back on emissions.

England will be the favourites against the Danes (Picture: Getty)

Whilst this is not being enforced, it is understood that, following talks between Gareth Southgate and the FA, England will adhere to the guidelines and make the trip to Eintracht Frankfurt’s Waldstadion by coach.

The Three Lions’ other group stage games against Serbia and Slovenia, in Gelsenkirchen and Cologne respectively, are over four hours away from their base and as such road travel has been deemed impractical.

Had England elected to take to the skies instead, a 30-mile journey from their base camp to the closest airport would have been followed by a half-hour flight to Frankfurt.

Should England return to their camp immediately after the game, which has been commonplace in Southgate’s tenure, then the squad would not be back from their 6pm kick-off until between midnight and 1am.

The nations taking part at Euro 2024 have until February 24 to submit their final travel plans to UEFA, although England will have to wait to finalise their travel itinerary for the knockout rounds – if indeed they get there.

Eintracht Frankfurt’s stadium will play host to England’s clash with Denmark (Picture: Getty)

It is not expected, given the distances involved, that any knockout clash will necessitate any travel by road or by train, however.

The issue of footballers using planes to cover seemingly innocuous distances has proven controversial in the past.

Arsenal were infamously slammed for taking a plane to a Premier League away game against Norwich in 2015, given the fact the journey itself took a mere 14 minutes.