UEFA perform huge U-turn on ruling that will only apply to England's match in the round of 16 at Euro 2024

UEFA have made a controversial U-turn regarding the drinks served for England’s round of 16 clash.

The knockout stages of the 2024 European Championships begin this weekend, with 16 of the continent's top teams battling for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Despite drawing their last two matches against Denmark and Slovenia, England secured the top spot in Group C with a total of five points.

The Three Lions must wait until Wednesday night to find out who they will face in Sunday’s knockout match, with the Netherlands the most likely opponent.

And the match is already set to be a controversial one, as UEFA has made a shock U-turn regarding their decision to allow full-strength beer to be served at the match.

On Wednesday morning, The Times reported that England fans would not be restricted to low-alcohol beer before Sunday’s clash in Gelsenkirchen.

UEFA had previously limited England fans to low-alcohol drinks during their first Euro 2024 match with Serbia, but the decision reportedly caused travel problems as fans travelled to the stadium late so that they could drink elsewhere.

Therefore, to avoid issues around fans arriving at the stadium, it was decided that this would not be the case for England’s match on Sunday.

But just hours later, UEFA has changed their mind regarding this issue and there will now be no full-strength beers sold at England’s game this weekend.

Instead, local organisers plan to serve only low-alcohol beers.

For the match against Serbia, the beer served was just 2.8% alcohol and had less stock than is typically available at Euros matches.

Jude Bellingham scored the winning goal for England against Serbia. (Image: Getty)

Prior to the match, The Football Supporters’ Association argued that this decision was unfair as it was solely targeting English fans.

“It’s frustrating that ticket-holding England fans have seen stadium alcohol restrictions against them when others haven’t,” the FSA said in a statement. “While we encourage fans to arrive early at the stadium, with those same restrictions not being applied at the England fan zones it doesn’t help in convincing them to do so.”

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated transfer news channel to send you the latest deals, rumours and more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.