UK fans banned from entering Italy for upcoming Three Lions match

The Italian embassy has just issued a statement addressing all football fans who have been in the UK in the last two weeks to ban them from entering the country.

Severe measures to halt the Delta variant

The news comes as England's national team prepares to face Ukraine on 3 July at Italy's Stadio Olimpico. With the prevalence of the Delta variant rapidly taking over the UK, the Italian government is taking severe measures to prevent outbreaks from ravaging the country once more.

As of yesterday 30 June, the UK recorded a little over 26,000 cases—a first figure of this magnitude since last February. The Italian embassy released a statement in London today saying:

As the England-Ukraine football match approaches this Saturday, we would like to highlight that, according to the current Italian legislation, anybody who has been in the UK in the previous 14 days, irrespective of nationality or residency will not be admitted to the stadium, even if they have a ticket.

Only those who can prove that they have arrived in Italy at least six days previously have observed five days of quarantine, and have taken a post-quarantine Covid-19 test with a negative result, will be allowed into the Stadio Olympico.

And:

Being exempt from quarantine in Italy for any legal reasons will not translate into permission to enter the stadium. Anyone who is found to be failing to observe quarantine will be punished as laid down by law.

Hotel quarantine

As a result, the FA has confirmed that it will not sell any tickets—of which 2,500 were made available for England fans—to anyone with an address in the UK. Traveling to Italy from the UK without good reason will result in a mandatory isolation period between five and 10 days in a hotel or private residence.