On the 17th, UEFA announced that the European Championship, which was scheduled to be unveiled on June this year, will be postponed for 12 months due to the impact of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 17 (Reporter Wei Hua, Li Li) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the European Championship, the 2020 European Championship, the European event, which was carefully built by UEFA for several years, will be postponed for one year to meet the fans.
On the 17th, UEFA announced that the European Championship, which was scheduled to be unveiled on June this year, will be postponed for 12 months due to the impact of the new Crown pneumonia epidemic. At present, European football is in chaos. Under the strong voice of various associations, UEFA, which is under great pressure, has no choice but to make such a difficult decision. However, facing a large backlog of schedule, it is also the safest way to postpone the European Championship for the unguaranteed safety of the stadium.
The epidemic hit tiger
since February this year, the impact of the epidemic on Europe has begun to show, and the number of confirmed cases continues to rise. The World Health Organization said a few days ago, europe has become the “epicenter” of the new coronavirus epidemic “. As of March 17, the number of confirmed patients in Europe has exceeded 60000, of which Italy is the most serious, with nearly 30000 confirmed patients. Faced with the epidemic, many countries have taken measures such as blocking traffic, suspension of school and suspension of classes, and declared that the country is in a state of emergency.
The Serie A league among the five major leagues was the first to be impacted. Many games were postponed, and the kick-off date was adjusted repeatedly, and the game continued frequently in Serie A. On 4th day of this month, Italy issued a decree declaring that before April 3, all sports events in the country were prohibited from entering the audience. On the 7th, the Italian Players Association issued a statement calling for putting the health of the players first, claiming that if the safety is not guaranteed, the players may choose to strike. Since the 10th, Italy has implemented city closure nationwide. At the same time, the Serie A league has been officially suspended.
With the spread of the epidemic in Europe, the bell of the shutdown sounded one after another in La Liga and La Liga. On the 13th, the German football professional league urgently stopped the German league and the German league. So far, the five major leagues, the Champions League and Uefa Europa Cup were rarely suspended.
Maybe Italy “closed” too late. Juventus club confirmed on the 11th that the team’s central defender lugani was infected with the new Crown virus and became the first infected person in the five major leagues. Rugani’s diagnosis was like the first domino that fell down. Arsenal coach Aalter Tower and La Liga defender Garry were “hit” one after another “…… As lugani said, “the virus will not treat anyone specially!”
Cut the chaos quickly
There are still more than 80 days from the European Championship scheduled to open in June. Why did Uefa announce the delay in March when the epidemic is still likely to improve? In fact, making a decision at this time is no different from eating “reassurance” for the affected associations and letting them handle their own competitions safely. Imagine that if Uefa was silent about the extension, the host country should not only be busy dealing with the epidemic, but also take out the already tense resources to prepare for the European Championship. Once the epidemic situation has not been relieved from April to May, isn’t Uefa very passive at that time?
In fact, the European Championship makes way for the league, which is also the appeal of the major football associations. Italian football association president Glavina has said bluntly before that domestic league and cup matches are the first priority. In Europe, where football is highly professional, the adjustment of league matches involves the interests of clubs, players, broadcasters, sponsors, fans and other parties. If the league matches are shortened or even cut off, Serie A, the euro lost in the five major leagues of Germany and the first class will be hundreds of millions. This is why at first some league matches would rather be empty than continue.
Regardless of economic factors, considering purely from the competitive level, only after a complete season can the final result avoid criticism. Taking Serie A as an example, if it cannot be concluded in a normal way, the Italian Football Association has designed three schemes, including not setting a champion, deciding the championship with the actual end of the standings and arranging the play-off, but no matter which alternative scheme, as a result, it is difficult to convince the public. More than one hundred years ago, Serie A was suspended due to World War I, and the champion was directly awarded to Genoa. This matter is still being investigated by Lazio, who was also qualified to compete for the championship at that time.
Even if the epidemic could be controlled at that time, the public’s fear was still difficult to eliminate for a while. It is not excluded that there will be fans with the mentality of “football is higher than life and death” running around with the team, but this is a minority after all. In addition, the European Championship is planned to be held in 12 cities in 11 countries. With a wide range of personnel movements, it is difficult to ensure that the virus will not resume. Once it rises, the European Championship will be in a dilemma.
To sum up, instead of forcibly holding the European Championship like “driving ducks on the shelves”, it is better to postpone it and wait for the opening whistle one year later.
It is not a panacea
However, the extension of the European Championship is only an expedient measure that has to be done, not a panacea. To postpone such an important event for one year, the difficult problems left to all parties are still behind.
Nowadays there are more and more football matches, and the competitions of major associations present the rhythm of “you sing, let me appear. Moving the one-month European Championship to next summer is bound to be lost. For example, the FIFA World Club Cup will be held in China. FIFA had had a heated discussion with Uefa because of the arrangement of the competition. If the European Championship and the World Club Cup “crashed”, who would eventually give in?
The delay of the European Championship means that the work plans of broadcasters and sponsors are disrupted. The reporter interviewed a sponsor of the European Championship on the extension. The relevant person in charge said that as a UEFA partner, he would work with Uefa to deal with the epidemic. However, according to the reporter’s understanding, UEFA and many sponsors have already invested a lot of expenses for marketing in the early stage, and these expenses may be wasted.
Against the background that many international competitions have been canceled due to the epidemic, it is already the best result to keep the European Championship, but it is still an ending without a winner. If anyone would show a smile on the corners of his mouth due to the delay of the European Championship, perhaps only the “injury” that was originally impossible to participate in the European Championship due to serious injuries like Zaniolo and depe.