Towards the Quarters. History and politics of Euro2020
Reflections on football and politics moving towards the quarter-finals of Euro2020. The article by Alessandro Albanese and Livio Ricciardelli
First of all, we must clarify that the FIFA World Cup are historical events, while the UEFA European Football Championships are sporting events.
Europe is the continent of football tradition. At the World Cup you will find Iran, Trinidad and Tobago, Togo, Saudi Arabia, Angola… at the Europeans, on the other hand, there are all national teams that have a long football tradition, even the teams considered “smaller”. For this reason the Europeans are considered even more difficult than the World Cups.
The World Cup is therefore a historical and political event. Maradona, for example, is a historical figure, not just a footballer. The goals against England of the Argentine number 10, the one in hand and the one in which he dribbles all, are two historical events.
The European Championships, on the other hand, are a sporting event , both because they are less important, less historic, and because teams with a long football tradition participate.
In this latest edition of the European Championships, that of 2020 which will be played in 2021 due to the pandemic, there are a series of innovations that require greater reflection. Politics too.
First of all, the itinerant model seems to be a failure. Or at least it is showing enormous limits. The fact that there are days without games is, for example, linked to the fact that you cannot have a group in which the teams play in Seville and St. Petersburg, another in Rome and Baku.
And the days without games during a competition like this are very sad.
We must also consider the clear difference for those who play in the summer in places like Seville and Baku, where it is very hot. Among other things, Seville was not the stadium envisaged by Spain for Euro2020. It was Bilbao. But Covid problems have moved the Spanish headquarters to Seville, a place where playing football in the summer is suffocating.
Disadvantaged teams therefore. Also for this reason I don't think the traveling European will ever happen again.
Of these 11 cities where you play (Rome, Seville, London, St. Petersburg, Baku, Bucharest, Budapest, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Munich) some oddities that leap to the eye will be remembered.
The final is at Wembley, the temple of world football. Temple of world football why was the 1966 final played? Maybe not only that. Maybe because it is the home of England and no club team. Could it be a political move by UEFA to keep the United Kingdom involved in European trials? Draghi proposed Rome for the final because in London there is the risk of the Delta variant. Is this also a political move?
The debate on the borders of Europe and UEFA opens up to other issues.
Uefa, for example, involves Russia, a country historically linked to the European football tradition, but there is discussion about whether it is good or bad. However, for the funding that UEFA receives, Russia does not seem to be in question. See especially the sponsors, including Gazprom.
It is also obvious that France is not hosting any matches. Or that Baku grants UEFA so much that they had the Europa League final in 2019 and 4 matches of Euro2020.
Then there is the question of Bucharest: why is it played in Bucharest? Why was the draw also held in Bucharest (the first in the history of this type, with some teams still to be confirmed)?
And finally Budapest. With the stadium full of fans in defiance of anti Covid regulations at the behest of the Orban government, eager to give bread and circuses to European citizens, however putting everyone's health at risk.
In addition to the oddities, there have already been many emotions. Three so far:
1) France eliminated after being joined by Switzerland with Mbappe who misses the last penalty and after a match that saw the Swiss take the lead, miss a penalty, concede 3 goals and then come back to the 91st.
2) second half of Italy – Austria with a goal canceled by Arnautovic and a goal in extra time by Chiesa.
3) the third day of Group F, with Hungary taking the lead twice against Germany, resulting in the elimination of the Germans for a few minutes (due to the contemporaneity of Portugal – France).
We want something to remain from these days.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/verso-i-quarti-storia-e-politica-di-euro2020/ on Wed, 30 Jun 2021 07:44:47 +0000.