By Ilaria Mastio
If you’re a sports fan, there’s something in the air: the UEFA 2020 European Football Championship is quickly approaching. Hosted by 12 countries from across Europe, this championship will start on June 11 and continue to July 11 2021. It’s not too early to be getting excited for this event, which will have matches taking place in cities across Europe.
David Bizz, 24, engineer student and a huge fan of football, said: “2020 was already a very sad year for everyone, and not having something such as Euros to keep me company during those long days at home was very awful.
“I can’t wait for England to play. We were so close during the World Cup in 2018, and I think we have a chance to bring the cup back home.”
Hosted in 11 cities
The UEFA EURO 2020 will be held across different countries for the first time in 60 years, with a total of 11 cities to host various football matches. London will host the final and semi-finals at Wembley Stadium.
The format will be the same as Euro 2016, where the top two teams for each tournament will go ahead to the round of 16 along with the four best third-placed finishers.
The main reason for hosting the Euros in multiple cities is to let more than one place benefit financially from hosting a big event such as a football competition. The fans will be allowed in the stadium again after almost 14 months, and the cities will be benefited from it.
Credit to Ilaria Mastio
Surprise announcements
There were a few surprises with the announcement of the national squad for Euro. We won’t be able to see Sergio Ramos with the Spain squad, a captain and an essential player outside and inside the pitch. Another surprise was the announcement of the return of Karim Benzema on the French team, six years after he was allegedly involved in an attempted blackmail case involving an ex-France teammate.
Benzema is accused of paying people to extort money from football player Mathieu Valbuena by threatening to make a sex tape public in 2015. Benzema argues a police officer used dishonest methods to draw him into the situation. The French footballer will still face trial in October 2021, but he will still play this summer during the EUFA Euro 2020.
“I’ll be honest; I’m very grateful the Euros will be in 2021 and not 2020. I found a fantastic opportunity this year, and I’ll be working for the hospitality at Wembley Stadium. For a big football fan like me, this is going to be a fantastic summer,” said Jake Purlin, 35, waiter.
“I was unemployed a year ago, and I never dreamt of something this big for my career.”
Credit: Ilaria Mastio
Taking Covid precautions
A few days before the beginning of the Euros, Sergio Busquets, who player for Spain’s squad, tested positive for Covid-19. This has forced the whole team to self-isolate with the hope he will be the only positive case. PCR tests will be carried out daily through the entire competition to ensure the players and the staff play safely. There’s still a lot of anxiety, especially through the players who have been waiting years to play in such a big competition.
There was a lot of controversial discussion about the event itself. Some people were worried about the travelling process that these teams are expected to partake in, but UEFA decided to go ahead and keep the event divided into different cities.
England is getting ready to cheer for their team and show their spirit on those summer nights they have been missing recently. The British team will face Croatia for their first game of the tournament, and fans are especially ready for this one. Back in 2018, England lost the semi-final while playing against Croatia. Three years later, a possible revenge is finally here. Hopefully, British people will forget about that horrible night and finally cheer for England.
Getting ready for the game
Everyone is getting ready for the game in different ways; Bermondsey’s Kirby estate residents are adorning the town with 400 red and white flags.
It’s a tradition that started in 2012 where a few houses started decorating their flats for the Euros that same year; in 2016, more people got involved and now they have more flags than ever.
According to the Evening Standard, the decorations were organised by Chris Ralph Dowse.
“They call us the flag ninjas,” said Mr Dowse while talking with Rachael Burford from the Evening Standard.
“Because we do it at the crack of dawn, and they wake up to it. This year we have more than ever, and there is a real feeling England can do it. Football is coming home.”
The residents of the town who are not Britain can also support their own national team with different flags, and Mr Dowse will help them.
Credit to Jeremy Selwyn
Sense of community
“They really add to the sense of community, which is essential after the year we’ve had. The estate has become a bit of a tourist attraction with people coming to visit to see them.
“This year, we will all be watching indoors because we don’t want to jeopardise our ‘Freedom Day’ on June 21. Hopefully, after that, we’ll all be able to come together to watch some matches.”
If we look back at the national teams in the past few years, it’s straightforward to spot the strongest team. France is the stricter team at the moment, with a very young and strong squad. Spain, Germany and England are right after the French team with a great possibility of winning the competition.
But we shouldn’t underestimate a team such as Italy, which got so much better after not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. In the past three years, they managed to win against every team they faced to reach a 2020 European Championship.
Every team has a big scorer who just finished a fantastic season, from Romelu Lukaku for Belgium to Kylian Mbappe for France, to Harry Kane for England, to Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal.
It’s tough to predict who will win, but one thing is sure – people will have fun this summer!
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