Football's never coming home....

[MK Shrimper]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/06/euro-2020-across-europe-uefa

Absolutely dreadful idea that will leave this tournament stone cold dead. Who can fund travelling to 5/6/7 countries to watch one tournament?

Oops picked wrong header. Sorry ESB!

 

[chapperzUK]

The people at the top are so out of touch with reality is it crazy. What is the point?

 

[MK Shrimper]

The people at the top are so out of touch with reality is it crazy. What is the point?

I guess no one wants it outside the big European countries. No one has any money to build build build like Poland/Ukraine has apart from Russia.

 

[h turner]

The people at the top are so out of touch with reality is it crazy. What is the point?

have to agree, but would love to see the millenium stadium involved. In all likelyhood wembeley, nou camp, Bernabeu, san siro will be involved and i am sure a few more from Germany for example but what other stadiums do people think there will be?

 

[Bluesmanager]

Possibly a few in France... other than that, are there any decent stadiums out there to use?

 

[Jam_Man]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/06/euro-2020-across-europe-uefa

Absolutely dreadful idea that will leave this tournament stone cold dead. Who can fund travelling to 5/6/7 countries to watch one tournament?

Oops picked wrong header. Sorry ESB!

The idea is that the groups will be played in one country, ie Group A in Germany, Group B in France etc.

Wembley has been put forward by the FA to host semi finals and finals.

So there will be some structure and regional games.

The people at the top are so out of touch with reality is it crazy. What is the point?

The problem the Euros have is they are being increased to 24 next time, and theres not actually many countries that could actually host them and think thats a main reason for this idea.

Not sure I like it personally, but its the best chance of getting some games in England in our lifetime.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

It is an interesting format, will the teams be regionally divided too? A Home Nations group, Scandanavian group, eastern Euro etc; you get the idea? or just a lottery with a host nation? I think it will lead to full gates but less minnows getting through first rounds.

 

[Beefy]

It's a fantastic idea. I genuinely don't see how anyone could have an issue with it. Especially if they had attempted to travel between Polish cities in the Summer, or indeed baulked at the £700 I was quoted to travel between Warsaw and Donetsk to see England vs France. This is going to be a fantastic tournament which is accessable to fans like no other before it. A rare piece of sensible thinking from UEFA. Props to them.

 

[Pubey]

Yeah I really like the idea as well.

 

[ian_the_girth]

How many teams will be in the 2020 comp? How many will actually have to qualify?
I dont mind it being spread all over Europe, no different than having to travel across the USA for world cup '94.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Flights from Southend international Airport, special away weekend! Bring it on.

 

[chapperzUK]

It's a fantastic idea. I genuinely don't see how anyone could have an issue with it. Especially if they had atempted to travel between Polish cities in the Summer, or indeed baulked at the £700 I was quoted to travel between Warsaw and Donetsk to see England vs France. This is going to be a fantastic tournament which is accessable to fans like no other before it. A rare piece of senseible thinking from UEFA. Props to them.

I see your point about travel and making it more accessible to fans, but for me it seems like the "39th game" idea. I think the "pride" that comes with hosting the tournament will be gone.

 

[Pubey]

I see your point about travel and making it more accessible to fans, but for me it seems like the "39th game" idea. I think the "pride" that comes with hosting the tournament will be gone.

it's a one off and I like the idea that you'll get to see the really amazing fans putting their stamp on things in Spain, Holland, Germany, England etc.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Possibly a few in France... other than that, are there any decent stadiums out there to use?

That's certainly not an issue. There are dozens of stadia rated as five or four star by UEFA which could comfortably host European Championship games.

That said, I'm not really a fan; much prefer the notion of one or two countries hosting the event. Tremendous news for the airlines though.

 

[Uncle Leo]

it's a one off and I like the idea that you'll get to see the really amazing fans putting their stamp on things in Spain, Holland, Germany, England etc.

They say it's a one off, but the reason for that - the 60th anniversary of the Euros - seems pretty specious to me. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was the format for all future European Championships.

 

[chapperzUK]

it's a one off and I like the idea that you'll get to see the really amazing fans putting their stamp on things in Spain, Holland, Germany, England etc.

My mistake, I thought they were changing it for good! As a one off I can see it being more successful, but would be good to know the criteria for applying. Fossetts Farm will be built by then .... :whistling:

 

[EastStandBlue]

It's a fantastic idea. I genuinely don't see how anyone could have an issue with it. Especially if they had atempted to travel between Polish cities in the Summer, or indeed baulked at the £700 I was quoted to travel between Warsaw and Donetsk to see England vs France. This is going to be a fantastic tournament which is accessable to fans like no other before it. A rare piece of senseible thinking from UEFA. Props to them.

I don't see how it'll be accessible to fans to be honest, especially in England anyway. The tickets that become available will barely cover those with englandfans points. If you want to stand a chance of getting tickets to games held in England (if Platini et al deem us worthy enough to host games in the first place), then you'll need to sign up to englandfans now and start travelling abroad.

The way I understand it as well is that the nation that hosts the semi-finals and final won't host any of the group stage games, so there'll be a fair bit of bartering and exchanging going on here. With Wembley and the Olympic Stadium, which'll be fitted for football use by then, common sense would dictate London to have a good chance of putting together a very respectable offer.

That said, I can't stand the idea. It's merely a way in which UEFA can pander to a mass demographic and ensure that, no matter what they charge for tickets, each venue will sell-out. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you know full well tickets will now either be reserved for corporate guests or extortionately priced. The whole point of an international tournament is that one nation can place its identity onto it and that atmosphere builds in that country until the final. That won't happen here, and the football will suffer for it.

 

[Beefy]

I don't see how it'll be accessible to fans to be honest, especially in England anyway. The tickets that become available will barely cover those with englandfans points. If you want to stand a chance of getting tickets to games held in England (if Platini et al deem us worthy enough to host games in the first place), then you'll need to sign up to englandfans now and start travelling abroad.

The way I understand it as well is that the nation that hosts the semi-finals and final won't host any of the group stage games, so there'll be a fair bit of bartering and exchanging going on here. With Wembley and the Olympic Stadium, which'll be fitted for football use by then, common sense would dictate London to have a good chance of putting together a very respectable offer.

That said, I can't stand the idea. It's merely a way in which UEFA can pander to a mass demographic and ensure that, no matter what they charge for tickets, each venue will sell-out. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you know full well tickets will now either be reserved for corporate guests or extortionately priced. The whole point of an international tournament is that one nation can place its identity onto it and that atmosphere builds in that country until the final. That won't happen here, and the football will suffer for it.

I don't agree with any of this, tbh. And (unless I'm wrong) there's been nothing about ticketing said at this stage. Why would anyone need to sign up to Englandfans in order to watch Croatia vs Denmark at Old Trafford? It's just not going to happen. I imagine that ticketing will work exactly the same way as it does for European Championships now with a portal open to fans from across Europe and in the host city to apply for tickets.

England won't be playing in England. France won't be playing France. I'm not sure why there would be any more problems getting tickets than for any tournament (ie not much so long as you put the effort in).

 

[EastStandBlue]

I don't agree with any of this, tbh. And (unless I'm wrong) there's been nothing about ticketing said at this stage. Why would anyone need to sign up to Englandfans in order to watch Croatia vs Denmark at Old Trafford? It's just not going to happen. I imagine that ticketing will work exactly the same way as it does for European Championships now with a portal open to fans from across Europe and in the host city to apply for tickets.

England won't be playing in England. France won't be playing France. I'm not sure why there would be any more problems getting tickets than for any tournament (ie not much so long as you put the effort in).

Aye, there's been nothing at ticketing at this stage, but if it's being hosted across Europe I can envisage UEFA handing over ticketing issues to the respective FAs to deal with as it's another administrative issue that not only can they do without, but also make a great case for national FAs to oversee (databases, marketing streams, excluded hooligans etc).

If England/London does indeed get the tournament semi-finals and final to be held at Wembley and the Olympic Stadium then, taking away corporate seating, you're only looking at around 60,000 and maybe 40,000 (Olympic Stadium will be 60,000 capacity, right?) seats for fans respectively. Schedule the final at Wembley and you've got 160,000 tickets up for grabs. The British public caused mayhem over the 3 million tickets that were available for the Olympics and the tabloids were filled with sob stories about people who didn't get any, despite bidding for thousands of pounds worth. Football's the national sport, it'll be mayhem trying to get tickets.

It's a purely hypothetical situation, but one that's ultimately realistic.

 

[Beefy]

But none of that is different to the current situation. I'm sure there were plenty of people in Vienna and Kiev who wanted tickets to the last two European Championship final and didn't get them. That's a reality.

Wherever the Final and Semi-Finals are based it will be difficult to get tickets. Just as it is now.

But this isn't about tickets to the final. Millions of people watch the tournament as a whole, mostly in the Group stages. For those fans I think this system will be much easier and less expensive.