Euro 2020 comes first even in rugby-mad South Africa

The kickoff of a British and Irish Lions match in rugby-loving South Africa next Wednesday has been brought forward one hour to avoid clashing with a Euro 2020 semi-final. A game between the Sharks franchise and the tourists in Johannesburg will start at 1900 local time (1700 GMT) and finish before the second Euro semi-final kicks off at 1900 GMT in London. The football match will pit the winners of quarter-finals this weekend between England and Ukraine and the Czech Republic and Denmark against each other at Wembley Stadium. “We discussed the idea with broadcasters and they were all aligned that it made sense from the perspective of sports fans,” South African Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux said in a statement. British and Irish Lions managing director Ben Calveley said: “This is a sensible decision made with the fans’ best interests at heart. We are fully supportive.” Although football is the most followed sport in South Africa, the world champion Springboks generally draw much larger crowds than the underachieving national football team, which is ranked only 15th in Africa.