England fans urged not to travel to Italy for Euro 2020 quarter final in Rome this weekend due to quarantine restrictions for UK arrivals.

Italy's foreign ministry has called on the British embassy in Rome to provide it with a "complete list" of all those from the official delegation that will accompany the English team to the England-Ukraine Euro 2020 quarter final match in the Italian capital on Saturday 3 July.

In an internal document seen by Wanted in Rome, the embassy is invited with "all courteous urgency" to indicate full details of those travelling to attend the match, including their capacity - whether they belong to the British government delegation or the official sports delegation - as well as anybody with proven work needs directly connected to the match.

The foreign ministry also draws the embassy's attention "to the need for the total number of people included in the above list to be as small as possible."

• Euro 2020: England fans can't travel to Rome for quarter-final

The memo underlines Italy's mandatory five-day quarantine for all those arriving from the UK - including anyone who has stayed or passed through the UK in the previous 14 days - together with the requirement to present a negative covid test within 48 hours of arriving in Italy and again five days after arrival.

The communication from the ministry stresses that "supporters who have stayed or passed through the United Kingdom in the last 15 days, regardless of nationality and residency, even if in possession of a ticket, will not be admitted to the stadium, except if they can prove that they have arrived in Italy at least 6 days before and have spent the foreseen quarantine period of 5 days in Italy, with a negative covid test result at the end."

No exceptions

The ministry states that there will be no exceptions: "Those who enter Italy for transits of less than 36 hours or for short stays for business reasons (not directly related to the sporting event) will not be able to access the stadium," underlining that "proven cases of quarantine violation will be punished according to the law."

The foreign ministry said it would be "grateful" if the embassy could highlight this message "in order to prevent difficult situations outside the stadium," and to advise England fans in the UK not to travel to Italy for the quarter final against Ukraine "as they would not be able to access the stadium and would risk violating the provisions of the quarantine."

British embassy in Rome

In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, the British embassy to Italy emphasised that it would not be "selling or distributing tickets" for the England-Ukraine match, stating that all ticket information is available on the UEFA website.

The announcement followed confusion over earlier media reports stating that the embassy would be facilitating ticket sales to English residents in Italy.

The embassy also drew attention to Italy's quarantine rules and the UK government’s travel advice which "clearly states that fans should not travel to red and amber countries to protect public health in the UK from new Covid variants."

• Italy's PM wants Euro 2020 final to move from London to Rome due to UK covid rates

The move to persuade England fans not to travel to Rome comes amid reports that Italy's interior ministry is set to order police to intensify checks at airports, train stations and motorways.

On 30 June the UK registered more than 26,000 new coronavirus cases - its highest daily figure since late January - with the surge fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.

Downing Street has also urged England supporters not to travel.

“Obviously we appreciate how fans will want to do everything possible to support the England team but we do need to balance that against the need to protect public health" - said the spokesperson of prime minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday - "We would urge everyone to comply with the guidelines and rules that we have in place.”

Photo The Japan Times