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The 2020 European football championship will have no fixed host nation with UEFA electing to share matches throughout the continent, in what is a first for a major sporting tournament.
The decision was announced last Thursday and means the 51 games of the tournament will be spread throughout 13 ‘host cities’ in Europe.
When Michel Platini initially discussed the proposal on the eve of the Euro 2012 final in Kyiv back in July, the radical idea received a mixed response and it was seemed only a half-chance to go ahead.
After receiving what he claimed was an overwhelmingly positive response from both the national associations and the fans, Platini said on Friday:
“We have talked to the fans. They were against it originally but we told them we are going to help them and suddenly they had a much more positive attitude.
“Certainly it will be easier for the English to go to Wales and Scotland to watch a match instead of having to travel the world,” he told reporters in Switzerland.
Anybody who had experienced UEFA’s ad-hoc ticketing system for this year’s tournament would probably bristle at the idea of Platini telling them UEFA would “help them”, but Platini is at least partially right when he refers to the ease of travel throughout Europe, something that will only improve in the next eight years.
The whole “for the fans” idea isn’t a new one but it hasn’t stopped UEFA roll it out repeatedly in the announcement and the statements following it.
But is it truly for the fans?
Part of the beauty of travelling to a major football – or any sport, for the matter – tournament is the opportunity to experience a country and culture that you might not otherwise get.
I was fortunate enough to travel to Poland and Ukraine earlier this year being able to spend time in a city like Gdansk or Lviv was just as valuable as being able to see Italy versus Spain or Germany versus Denmark.
Given that stadiums will be part of the selection criteria it is likely that we will see strong bids from London, Munich, Milan and Madrid as well other major Western European centres.
And sure, the likes of the Allianz Arena and San Siro are football’s greatest amphitheatres in some of Europe’s greatest cities, but many football fans already know this.
It might appear presumptuous to expect the majority of the 12 cities to be traditional football capitals but let’s be honest we’re not going to see the regional centres like Zagreb’s Maksimir Stadion be awarded games over the likes of the Bernabeu.
Unlike the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, there’s no doubt the tournament will be successful, and it will be interesting to see if other sporting bodies like the IOC and FIFA look at a similar tournament format in Olympics and World Cups to come.
But is this really a case of bringing the tournament to the fans, or is this a case of bringing the tournament to fans in cities already accustomed to seeing the world’s finest on a weekly basis?
I might be cynical but to me it just looks like UEFA handing its premier international football event to the footballing superpowers that might not really need it.
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