Europhiles Notebook - Five Things About Euro 2012

1 – Location, Location, Location.

This is the first tournament to be held in Poland or Ukraine as UEFA spreads the love, and money.  The two nations are the easternmost hosts in European Championship history.  Moreover, no previous tournament will occupy such a wide geographic spread, host cities Gdansk and Donetsk are over 1500 km apart.  With fervent fans and a long legacy of footballing support, Euro 2012’s venue is another example that UEFA intends to spread the love and wealth.

2- The more things remain the same, the more they change.

Despite the pair of hosts being debutantes, this is the third time in the last four editions that the tournament has been co-hosted.  With more and more countries queuing up for UEFA’s financial gravy train, sporting old infrastructure in desperate need of a facelift, the best solution is the simplest one – joint bids.   However, this is the last tournament with only 16 teams; Euro 2016 will have 24 teams as UEFA expands the reach and outlay of the continent’s biggest international tournament.  With goal-line referees and potential video replay, the beautiful game may be altered forever.

3 – Bigger is better

Euro 2012 will be Europe’s biggest tournament to date.  More countries will compete than ever before with 51 nations starting qualifying.  A total of 255 matches over 16 months will be played to decide the 14 teams that join the co hosts.  Contrast with Euro 88 as only 33 nations entered qualifying.  Prize money is also on the up as over 200 million euros are on offer during the tournament.  The winners will pocket over 10 million euros and potentially 30 million euros for a perfect tournament.

4 – Slogan and Logo

Ukraine and Poland, despite their recent economic troubles, are set to make history as they prepare to host the finals.  What more fitting slogan than ‘Creating History Together’, an apt motto for a football tournament, perhaps the only truly unifying force in today’s world.  Of added interest is the logo, a graphical representation of a classic folk tradition in both countries, Wycinanki.  The latter is a form of artistic paper cutting popular for generations on the Eastern front.

5 – Readiness concerns

Both countries, although possessing excellent facilities in the capital, are lacking somewhat, when it comes to consistent infrastructure, in other regions.  League teams play in smaller, creaking stadia and both tourist facilities and accommodation are way below capacity.  Although foreign companies have been brought in to build things up on the back of heavy investment, questions remain over whether they will be ready in time.  With both Scotland and Germany standing by, and political uncertainty still lurking, Euro 2012 may just be the first tournament which gets shifted on the eve of kickoff.