Euro 2020 opening marks return of mega-scale sports events

ROME (AP) — The biggest sporting event since the coronavirus brought the world to a halt kicks off at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The opening match of soccer’s European Championship will be played in the capital of Italy. That was the first country outside Asia to get struck by the pandemic and the first in the world to implement a nationwide lockdown. The tournament represents a major step forward on the path toward recovery after one of the darkest chapters in the continent’s history since World War II. More than 1 million Europeans have died in the pandemic. Almost 127,000 of them were Italians.