© Reuters
The feelings related to the World Cup are finally fading as Europeans prepare for what they consider the second most important international competition in the world — the European Championships.
The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship is going to be the 16th tournament of this kind, with a long and fruitful tradition behind it. Portugal is the defending champion, and its team will have a very difficult task of defending the title.
Let's see what we know so far about the upcoming tournament. Read on!
12 Countries – 12 Cities
The Old Continent is much smaller compared to the Americas, Africa, or Asia, and countries there often have to share the burden (or pleasure) of organising big competitions. Being one of the biggest of its kind, UEFA Euro 2020 will be split among 12 countries in Europe.
Former UEFA president Michel Platini suggested this change, and this will be the first time such an approach is adopted. It will be nothing new for European players, as they are used to traveling all over Europe with their clubs during the Champions League or UEFA Europa League.
Naturally, the selected destinations are some of the most popular stadiums in Europe, including Wembley Stadium in London, England, Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, and Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy.
Other venues include the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, Holland, San Mames in Bilbao, Spain, Arena Nationala in Bucharest, Romania, Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, and Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Since there are so many host countries, there will be no automatic qualifications for hosts. In other words, if, for example, Germany had failed to make it through the qualification stage, there would still be games at the Allianz Arena.
First Time Using VAR
Virtual Assistant Referee is a fairly new technology in the world of football — it was introduced last year in the 2018 World Cup. VAR has helped referees review some of the action on the field and determine what kind of decisions they need to make. Unlike in other sports where such technologies are used all the time, VAR is mostly limited to critical situations, such as the ones where the referee needs to decide whether the goal counts or not.
However, no Euros have had this technology before, and we can only assume that it is going to affect some of the important games once the competition starts.
Qualification Rounds
A total of 55 UEFA national teams need to compete in the qualification stage to make it to the final competition that will incorporate the top 24 teams. At this point in time, the qualifications are almost complete, meaning that most of the competitors for the final tournament have been determined. However, there are a couple of playoff games that need to take place before we can know the final list of nations that will compete at Euro 2020.
Who are the favourites?
If we take a look at the overall rankings from the qualification round, we can see that Belgium had the best overall performance with 24 points and a +24 goal difference. Right after them is Italy that also has the maximum number of points and a +22 GD. England comes in third, while Germany is fourth.
Apart from the countries mentioned above, other countries that performed pretty well include Spain, France, Croatia, the Netherlands — pretty much the standard. One of the countries that achieved great results during the qualifications is Ukraine that ranked sixth. Under the guiding hand of their former superstar Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine could be the team to look out for at the Euros.
One thing is certain — the competition is not going to be easy for any of the teams. Although Portugal comes as the former titleholder, they will not have a psychological advantage over others, especially not over France that will attend Euro 2020 as the World Cup winners.
The Croatian national team also had great performance at the World Cup, reaching the finals against France, so Croatia shouldn't be taken out of the equation either. Who is your favourite? Will England have an opportunity to 'bring it home'?
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