Last week UEFA announced their plans for Euro 2020 to the world, setting a new world record for the number of eyebrows simultaneously raised (previously set by Joey Barton’s recent failed attempt to speak French). Michel Platini and his gang of footie fat cats announced this week that the World Cup’s little brother is to be staged across the whole of Europe, abandoning the tradition of hosting the tournament in one country. This comes as a further surprise following the decision to expand the tournament to 24 teams from the current 16.
In previous years, international tournaments have been given character by their hosting nations. We all remember the crazed Japanese and Korean Beckham fans back in 2002, and whether you liked them or not, the wailing Vuvuzelas of South Africa 2010 will endure in the memories of reminiscing fans for years to come. I feel that even though in theory a combination of all the cultures of Europe would be a wonderful experience, in practice we would be left with a tournament devoid of personality that would blend into all of the other Euros that follow. Fans are wondering if the atmosphere will be sucked from the party.
But have no fear, when questioned as to whether the decision to have no individual hosting nation would spoil the atmosphere UEFA said that they were planning the ‘Biggest party ever’ across Europe. Forgive me for playing the role of the party pooper here, but having been to a few great parties and hundreds of bad ones, there are a couple of possibilities that concern me about the changes being made to the tournament.
Having a bigger party with more people in it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be better. In a bigger house party the atmosphere is diluted across the whole house instead of focussed into one or two packed rooms, and when a bunch of people who weren’t originally invited show up, it just gets awkward and weird. Very much like finding yourself stuck in a boring conversation about a boring subject with boring people in a remote corner of the party, England will find themselves stuck somewhere in Europe with three uninspiring fixtures before they can go and talk to the interesting people in the other room.
As an England fan you endure lengthy qualifying periods where the team fly around Europe to play boring games that hardly make enduring the travel or ITV’s paltry coverage worth it. When the Euros are played out across the continent as well, who’s to say that they won’t just feel like an extension of these, and therefore a total non-event?
Having said all of this, I don’t like to stand totally against change as progression can always be a good thing. The decision to host the competition across the continent and with more teams could turn out to be a complete success, every year the FA cup sees smaller teams triumph in David and Goliath scenarios, much to the delight of the neutral fan. Perhaps we will see more exciting games and an improvement in the standard of European football across the board.
All I really hope is that England don’t arrive at the party so pumped that they trip over Azerbaijan’s foot, fall down the stairs and have to go home early.
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Click to ClaimJack produces topical blogs for Howtobet4free tackling the key issues in the world of sport. Jack also publishes articles for a number of publications each week, and can be found on Twitter by following @JWinterr.
