Tag: Euro 2020

England Football Fans’ Racism Is Just the Surface. The Rot Runs Far Deeper.

No football culture in Europe is completely immune to racism and discrimination.

Penalty shootouts are at the very least a very cruel method to determine the outcome of a closely fought football contest if not an entirely unfair one. There are no perfect techniques to ensure the ball is put past the goalkeeper’s reach. Powerfully taken shots carry the risk of hitting the crossbar or even fly into the stands. Moderately taken ones might not meet the back of the net if the keeper jumps in the right direction. The pressure a striker undergoes while taking a kick during the shootout is unimaginable with the stakes being so high. A lot of it is often plain dumb luck and there’s a reason even the best in business have missed penalty kicks at the biggest of stages while staring into the prospect of elimination.

Once the final of the Euro 2020 (the insistence on calling it that in 2021 makes no sense) between England and Italy went into the penalties, there was an uncomfortably familiar air around the setting. Italy had been the slightly better team during the 120 minutes played but there wasn’t all that much to choose between the two sides. And the penalties would inevitably lead to one team having to deal with agony and despair despite having come so close to touching the glory.

England arguably were under more pressure in front of a packed Wembley stadium and under the weight of the enormous buildup to their entire campaign. Despite the early advantage they gained after Italy’s Andrea Belotti failed to convert his kick, England went on to lose the shootout with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missing theirs.

None of the three players had started the final. Two of them had only been introduced as specialist penalty takers. The opinion is fairly divided on whether the England manager Gareth Southgate made the best possible selections for such a high-pressure situation. Three very young members were trusted for the job while leaving out some of the more senior and seasoned ones. However, the moment Saka missed the final kick of the shootout and Italy players broke into their celebrations, anybody even remotely familiar to the political climate in the present-day England would have immediately sensed the greater danger.

Other than being substitute players who missed their kicks on the night, what unites Rashford, Sancho and Saka is the colour of their skin. And it was only a matter of time before the inevitable discourse began. Minutes after the game ended, star England cricketer Jofra Archer sensing the urgency of the matter posted a tweet urging fans to not racially abuse the three players. But much like many of his tweets in the past, Archer’s words proved prescient once again.

People attach a message of support on the Marcus Rashford mural after it was defaced following the Euro 2020 Final between Italy and England. Photo: Reuters/Peter Powell/File Photo

The racial abuse reserved for the players was unhinged, but not one bit shocking. The English society was anything but unconditionally united behind their players once they decided to take the knee making a powerful statement against ‘discrimination, injustice, and inequality’. The gesture has strong political connotations and has very effectively been used by athletes highlighting the social malaise of systemic racism. The England team however had to significantly water down the gesture fearing public reactions. Southgate had to assure the press the players were not promoting any specific political cause on the football field. Having to be defensive of the gesture in itself signalled what was to follow.

The players were booed and hooted at by large sections of England fans when they took the knee and this raucous behaviour was practically endorsed by no less than Prime Minister Boris Johnson and home secretary Priti Patel. It is quite rich of both to now very conveniently condemn the racist abuse of players but even the most committed of Tory voters will find it hard to sell that their leaders didn’t know what was coming.

England went on the have a dream run as the tournament progressed, and this political divide had gone off the headlines briefly as the nation saw a very realistic chance of the team bringing home glory after 55 years. But it doesn’t really take much to rally behind your players when they are winning. The moment they faltered, the worst of the post-Brexit English society reared its ugly head out.

Also read: Lionel Messi Finally Has a Major International Title. Everybody Can Relax Now.

Speaking to Sky News a day after the final, former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville very eloquently expressed his anger highlighting how deep the rot runs. Mincing no words whatsoever, Neville went on to hold the very top leadership in the country accountable for almost encouraging the public behaviour to stoop to this level. However, despite his impassioned monologue on the issue, one will be hard-pressed to overlook Neville himself helping normalise boorish behaviour of the English crowd when he said he found nothing wrong in the fans jeering the opposition team’s national anthem.

Throughout the tournament, sections of England fans had jeered the opposite teams’ anthems being played at the Wembley stadium – specifically of Scotland, Germany, and Denmark. There was widespread criticism of such disrespectful behaviour and the UEFA was even forced to penalise England’s FA (Football Association). Neville though found it no big deal and preferred to let it pass as something that fans do when charged up. He was in good company as former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan echoed the sentiment.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his wife Carrie Johnson after the match. Photo: Pool via Reuters/John Sibley

Of course, the behaviour didn’t find a universal acceptance. Southgate had himself distanced the team from such deplorable conduct of fans. Former greats of English football Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker too had strongly expressed their disapproval. But when public figures with influence in media attempt to pass off such unruly practices in the name of banter, it should then surprise no one to see it culminate into a full-fledged act of hooliganism by fans that saw Italy supporters getting physically attacked.

The racial abuse of players and physical attacks on rival fans aren’t completely detached from each other. Both stem from a place of deep sense of nationalistic entitlement, which breeds sentiments of ethnic and racial supremacy. This fosters and abets a culture where immigrants are inherently frowned upon or at the very least are expected to be grateful for the largesse they have been offered. In this worldview, it is only reasonable for Rashford, Sancho and Saka to face racial abuse should they fail in their ‘duty’ to England; for England has already done more than its fair share by letting them have a shot to play at the highest level.

Unlike some other places in Europe though, such blatant racism isn’t all that mainstream in England yet and it reflects in how even a Conservative government is at least publicly having to condemn it in strong words. Things aren’t quite the same in the backyard of the European champions Italy. Among the least diverse of all major European teams, Italy has had a far greater and far more severe problem of on-field racism. Several players in the Italian Serie A have been targeted with the most distasteful chants by the crowds.

But it becomes even worse in Italy where even fellow players fail to offer unqualified solidarity to their teammates. The star Italian centre-back Leonardo Bonucci had resorted to in part blaming his Juventus teammate Moise Kean when the latter got racially abused by the fans of Serie A club Cagliari. FIGC, the Italian football federation is among the most lackadaisical authorities at cracking down on racism and other forms of player abuse by spectators.

Also read: Lionel Messi Finally Has a Major International Title. Everybody Can Relax Now.

No football culture in Europe is completely immune to racism and discrimination. Even a country as progressive Germany has had the Mesut Ozil episode in recent years. Ozil who is of Turkish origin remarked his ethnicity is inevitably highlighted when he fails to meet expected standards. Again, his German teammates were anything but united behind Ozil when he made public his grievances. The French team, heavy on immigrants of African origin, has had to deal with racism too after their star player Kylian Mbappe recently missed a penalty resulting into France’s elimination from the Euro 2020.

This maliciousness that is ever so commonplace in football fandoms is almost rewarded by those who attempt to normalise it in the name of passion. It is almost as if fandoms are somehow not pure enough if they aren’t borderline problematic. The behaviour of England fans post the team’s defeat in the final is a result of politics of ethno-nationalism, racial supremacy, and toxic masculinity; all of which is tolerated to the point they start seeping into the places where the entire world can see how primal a society can really be when emotionally charged.

It then becomes about protecting a country’s international image and empty words condemning the specific acts follow. That sanctimony though is of very little consequence if the society continues to refuse looking into the rot that’s brewing within. And Johnson and Patel perhaps really need to look into what they are helping flourish and thrive right under their noses. Some introspection certainly won’t hurt.

Parth Pandya is an Ahmedabad-based freelance sports writer.

Euro Final: British PM, FA, London Mayor Condemn Racist Abuse of Players After Loss

British police said they would investigate the racist posts that were made after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who are all Black, missed spot-kicks.

London: England’s Football Association (FA) released a statement in the early hours of Monday, July 12, morning condemning the online racist abuse of players following the team’s penalty shootout loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.

The sides drew 1-1 after extra time and Italy won the shootout 3-2, with England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who are all Black, missing spot-kicks.

“The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media,” the statement said.


“We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.”

The England team also released a statement condemning the abuse directed at its players on social media.

“We’re disgusted that some of our squad – who have given everything for the shirt this summer – have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game,” the team tweeted.

British police said they would investigate the posts.

“We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final,” the Metropolitan Police tweeted.

“This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the team deserved to be lauded as heroes and not racially abused on social media.

“Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves,” Johnson tweeted.


London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on social media companies to remove such content from their platforms.

“Those responsible for the disgusting online abuse we have seen must be held accountable – and social media companies need to act immediately to remove and prevent this hate,” Khan said in a tweet.


Arsenal sent a message of support to their winger Saka while Rashford was backed by his club Manchester United.

“Football can be so cruel. But for your personality … your character … your bravery … We’ll always be proud of you. And we can’t wait to have you back with us,” Arsenal tweeted.


United said they looked forward to welcoming Rashford home, adding: “One kick won’t define you as a player or person.”

Euro 2020: ‘Football Comes to Rome’ as Italy Break English Hearts at Wembley

Italy’s men’s national team has won the European Championships for the first time since 1968 after a penalty shootout victory over England at Wembley.


“Football’s coming home,” they sung – but in the end it went to Rome, as Leonardo Bonucci screamed into the television cameras.

For the first time since 1968, and just three years after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Italy’s men’s national team has won the European Championship thanks to victory over England at Wembley.

For England, it came in the most devastating of manners — more penalty shootout heartbreak in a major tournament. Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, both brought on as late substitutes to take penalties, both missed for England, as did teenager Bukayo Saka.

But for Italy, it’s the fairytale culmination to Roberto Mancini’s three years in charge and a moment of cathartic redemption for a nation which has suffered so much over the past 18 months of the pandemic.

Andrea Belotti and Jorginho also missed for Italy in the dramatic shootout, but goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was the hero after saving twice.

“No-one expected this from us three years ago,” said a surprisingly controlled Mancini at full-time. “The lads, I don’t know what to say, they were fantastic. And the fans — it’s so important for everyone.”

Asked whether he had achieved both his pre-tournament aims of “winning while playing good football,” he replied: “Yes, we’ve done that.”

Nightmare start for Italy

Almost exactly three hours earlier, with the sky still blue over Wembley, it all looked very different for the Azzurri who fell behind to a second-minute Luke Shaw volley which sent an already rocking Wembley into ecstasy. It was the fastest ever goal in a European Championship final and England, after decades of disappointment at major tournaments, had finally come to play. Italy looked stunned by the occasion, but they got to half-time just one goal down.

“Italy have to get creative and use the wings more, because England’s midfield with [Declan] Rice and [Kalvin] Phillips are too good,” opined German legend Jürgen Klinsmann on BBC television at half-time. “Italy need to get in between the lines but that’s difficult against England because they press and squeeze so well.”

Clearly, Mancini was having the same thoughts, because that’s exactly what his team did, drawing level through Leonardo Bonucci just after the hour mark, the veteran defender reacting quickest during a goalmouth scramble. And Italy never looked back, ultimately triumphing in that dramatic penalty shootout where Italian experience prevailed over English youth.

Having hoisted the trophy into the now-blackened sky, the Italian players, coaches and medical staff raced over to their few thousand supporters behind one goal. One thousand had been permitted to travel from Italy for the final, exempt from strict quarantine regulations as part of a so-called “bubble trip.”

They were in their own separate section, but were joined in neighbouring blocks by a few thousand more UK-based Italians carrying signs and banners with slogans like “Football’s Coming to Rome” or the “The Italian Job” — barbed references to English football and pop culture.

From ‘biological bomb’ to emotional explosion

And how those fans deserved to celebrate. Italy was the European nation which suffered first, and arguably most, from coronavirus — and football played a tragic role in that.

On March 10, 2020, Bergamo-based side Atalanta played Valencia in a Champions League game held at Milan’s San Siro stadium. Over 44,000 people attended the event, which Bergamo’s mayor would later describe as a “biological bomb.”

Shortly after, the number of coronavirus cases in the province of Bergamo had skyrocketed, while deaths surged across the northern region of Lombardy. The military was soon transporting coffins through deserted streets. Italy’s pandemic nightmare had begun. But coronavirus wasn’t the only existential health crisis which this Italy team has had to overcome.

Italian legend Gianluca Vialli was included in the traveling party as “capo delegazione,” Italy’s “delegation chief,” back by the side of his former Sampdoria strike partner Mancini after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Also in the squad was Francesco Acerbi, the 33-year-old former AC Milan ultra and notorious party animal whose career and life were turned upside down by testicular cancer in 2014.

And when left-back Leonardo Spinazzola, one of the stand-out players of the entire tournament, ruptured his Achilles tendon in the quarterfinal against Belgium, his teammates rallied behind him. Spinazzola was at Wembley on crutches, picking up his own gold medal as his colleagues sang “Spina! Spina!” in his honour.

Mancini and Vialli’s Italian Renaissance

Mancini himself hasn’t suffered in a physical sense, but he has had his own personal demons to overcome with the Italian national team. Despite earning legendary status with his 168 goals in 566 games for Serie A side Sampdoria from 1982 to 1997, Mancini only managed four goals in 36 appearances for his country.

He was famously an unused substitute at Italia ’90, and acrimoniously pulled out of Italy’s squad for the World Cup in the United States four years later, having been demoted to at least third in the striking pecking order behind Roberto Baggio and Gianfranco Zola.

He took over the head coach job with Italy at their lowest ever ebb, having failed to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1958. Since then, his team has lost just twice.

Their victory at Wembley extended their current unbeaten run to 34 games — by far the best team at Euro 2020, and now with the trophy prove it.

This article was originally published on DW.

UEFA Euro 2020 Has Been Thrown Into Chaos by Rainbow Lights

A game between Germany and Hungary ended in a tough draw, but a much larger fight over acceptance and sexual identity loomed over the game.

German soccer stadiums were a little more colourful than usual on June 23. Well, except for one.

On June 23, Munich’s Allianz Arena played host to Germany and Hungary in the final matchday of Group F action in the Euro 2020 tournament (held in 2021 following COVID-19 delays). While the match ended in a tough 2-2 draw, a much larger fight over acceptance and sexual identity loomed over the game.

The mayor of Munich had requested that UEFA—the governing body of European soccer—allow the stadium to light up its exterior in rainbow colours. Though the UEFA recently added a rainbow to its own logo as a show of alleged solidarity with LGBTQ equality, the continental soccer confederation denied Munich’s request, deeming the move too political. This denial raised rancour among German fans and elicited significant pro-LGBTQ protests in Germany during the match.

UEFA saw the lighting up of Allianz as a political statement because of Germany’s final Euro group stage opponent: Hungary. The country, led by authoritarian strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orbán—known for systematically deconstructing Hungarian democracy and enforcing literal thought crime laws—has recently drawn international ire for new anti-LGBTQ+ policies. While the new law claims to limit depictions of paedophilia to youth, in effect the legislation puts significant restrictions on the depiction of homosexuality in cultural products like television shows. (God forbid Hungarian children watch Modern Family.) So, when Munich made its stadium lighting request, UEFA quickly connected the dots.

In response to the rainbow lighting ban, international soccer stars and teams across Germany went forth with LGBTQ inclusive symbolism anyway. In fact, it seems the move has only worked to spur international soccer support for the equality cause during Pride Month. Spanish and English league stars like Antoine Griezmann and Katie McCabe went to social media to express their displeasure with the decision. Politicians around Germany have derided UEFA for accepting money from authoritarian leaders while failing to live up to their alleged values of equality. Other stadiums and clubs around Germany not associated with hosting Euro 2020 matches announced plans to light up their stadiums during the Germany-Hungary tilt—as UEFA can’t control their actions.

future tense

This rainbow chaos caps off a tumultuous period surrounding gay rights at the Euros as UEFA tries as hard as it can to maintain its alleged political neutrality. This stance is not an uncommon one among major international sporting organizations like UEFA, FIFA, and the IOC. And the Hungarian government has overwhelmingly, and expectedly, applauded UEFA’s decision, with Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto declaring that “It is extremely harmful … to mix sports and politics. Historical experience shows that this is a bad thing, and the Germans in particular know this very well.”

Sadly for Szijjarto, sports and politics will almost always mix—sports will never exist in a vacuum, especially not an international behemoth like soccer. This week, FIFA sanctioned Mexico for the repeated recurrence of anti-gay chants. Meanwhile, UEFA investigated whether the captain of the German National Team was violating its policy against political statements when he wore a rainbow armband with his uniform in support of LGBTQ rights. In the end, UEFA decided the armband was OK, saying on Twitter: “[T]he armband has been assessed as a team symbol for diversity and thus for a ‘good cause’.” (So, as far as UEFA rainbow policies go: yes to armbands, yes to logos, but no to stadium lights?) Despite arguments otherwise, it seems entirely shortsighted for UEFA and international sporting organizations to protect authoritarian leaders in sporting events by selectively applying rules against political demonstrations—especially demonstrations as innocuous as putting some lights up around a soccer stadium.

This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

This piece was originally published on Future Tense, a partnership between Slate magazine, Arizona State University, and New America.

‘Football’s Coming Home’: What Makes a Great Football Anthem

The football chant can be considered one of the last embodiments of the oral folk tradition.

When the English men’s football team beat Croatia 1-0 in their first match of the 2020 European Championships, fans up and down the country turned to each other and chanted “It’s coming home” and Wembley echoed with it as supporters left the London stadium.

The Three Lions theme, released by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner with the Lightning Seeds before the 1996 European Championships, has become a touchstone of football music. It reached number 1 in the charts that year and was the musical backdrop to the English team’s run up to the semi-finals. It has continued to be sung by hopeful England fans ever since.

The song rose to number one for a second time in 2018 when England got to the semi-finals of the World Cup. But hopes were dashed when they were beaten 2-1 by Croatia. Such is the power of the song for the English that French player Paul Pogba (whose team went on to win the World cup that year) created a spin-off that appeared to be a sarcastic dig at the English team.

So at a time when England are once again attempting to win their first silverware since 1966, the longevity, popularity and associated meaning of Three Lions raises the question: what makes a good football anthem?

According to folk singer Martin Carthy, the football chant can be considered one of the last embodiments of the oral folk tradition. It gives fans a means through which they can not only express their love (or disdain) for a particular football club; but also their often complex relationship with a nation, town, social class or collective identity.

As noted by the historian Dave Russell, many of the football chants we hear on the terraces today have a long history. They’ve been sung by fans since the 19th century – with Sheffield United FC adapting the music hall drinking song ‘Rowdy Dowdy Boys‘ in the 1890s, for example.

It is apparent that in various ways, football’s great anthems can represent our hopes of success, our fear of defeat and our pride in national and local identities.

Football anthems

The football anthem is usually strongly associated with a particular club, nation or event. Like Sheffield United’s early adaptation of a music hall song, more recent football anthems also tap into the culture they operate within.

Usually drawn from popular music, folk, classical or indeed hymns, they sometimes have the power to capture the zeitgeist. For those that are old enough and support England, think how you felt when you heard ‘Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)‘ in 1996, then consider how it still makes you feel today. The ability of the song to remind us of our hopes, expectations and national identity is tangible.

Arguably the most well-known football club anthem in the UK is Liverpool FC’s use of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, which was appropriated by fans after the success of Gerry and Pacemakers’ version of the song in 1963. The lyrics of the song, which has also been used by other football clubs, such as Scotland’s Celtic and Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, features a protagonist who shows resilience “walking through a storm” of adversity. A sentiment that is easy for many supporters to get behind as they show unwavering dedication as their teams lose and unending hope that one day they might win.

The song’s firm association with Liverpool was cemented in the public consciousness in the aftermath of the 1985 Heysel stadium disaster and the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, where it took on more tragic meanings.

A more light-hearted song that has also been taken on by fans is West Ham’s use of the chorus of ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles‘. A Tin Pan Alley song from the 1920s. As opposed to stoically coping with adversity, the supporters can relate with the more lighthearted approach to loss – “even if we are losing, we will blow bubbles”.

There are many other examples of similar appropriations, such as Newcastle United’s use of the folk song ‘Blaydon Races‘ or Southampton’s use of the hymn ‘When the Saints Come Marching In‘.

A sense of time, place and identity

It is important to remember however that some anthems don’t come from the terraces, but from record labels, football governing bodies and the clubs themselves.

This phenomena has a long history and includes songs that glorify players, such as ‘The Belfast Boy‘ – a 1970 tribute to George Best. There are songs created by clubs, like Chelsea’s ‘Blue is the Colour‘ from 1972. Then there are those created for specific events, such as FIFA endorsed songs like ‘Gloryland‘ (1994) by Daryl Hall and Sounds of Blackness, Ricky Martin’s ‘La Copa De La Vida‘ (The Cup of Life, 1998) and this year’s official theme for the European Championships by Martin Garrix, featuring Bono and the Edge from U2.

Football songs and anthems have the potential to give us a greater sense of time and place. They can help us along when singing them, make us feel part of our tribe and like we are part of a team’s success. Football anthems also remind us of the essence of who we are and most importantly, who we were.

Whenever I hear ‘Nessun Dorma’, which the BBC used for its coverage of the 1990 World Cup, I am reminded of iconic English footballer Paul Gascoigne’s tears, indeed of my own tears when England missed the opportunity to replicate an occasion that many of us can’t remember but remains in our collective imagination – the 1966 World Cup Victory over West Germany.

As we enter the last 16 of this year’s European Championships, the anthems of nations around Europe will have similar resonances with the winners and losers of this year’s competition but only one country will bring the cup home.The Conversation

Paul Carr, professor in popular music analysis, University of South Wales.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Euro 2020: A Football Tournament Where the Big Players Come From China and the US

In return for being exposed to the eyes of the world, Euros sponsors pay huge amounts of money.

With Euro 2020 now under way after a year of pandemic delay, football fans will be hoping for great performances from Europe’s finest players. Some of us will watch the tournament unfold on our Hisense televisions, and many will choose to order in some half time refreshments, maybe via the Just Eat delivery service, possibly sent using a Vivo mobile phone.

Sustained by cans of Heineken, as goals are scored, supporters will upload celebration clips on to TikTok. And after the final, what better way to recharge than by arranging a holiday on Booking.com, perhaps flying on Qatar Airways.

For while fans will have their eyes firmly fixed on the efforts of players worth billions of pounds on the field, another big money game will be taking place off it. The Euros is one of the world’s biggest sport events, and a bonanza for corporate sponsors and partners (just a few of which are mentioned above).

In return for being exposed to the eyes of the world, Euros sponsors pay huge amounts of money. Just how much is difficult to say, as fees are commercially sensitive data. But in one case – that of Alipay (part of the Alibaba empire) – it is believed the Chinese company paid £176 million for an eight-year deal.

UEFA has sold these deals in three ways: National Team Football Official Sponsors, Euro 2020 Official Sponsors, and Euro 2020 Official Licensees. And the origins of the companies and brands sponsoring this year’s event are a clear indication of how the beautiful game is valued by the corporate world.

Alongside UEFA partners such as FedEx and Konami, each of the national teams bring their own roster of sponsors, which makes for quite a cluttered selection of brands competing for attention. There’s England’s £50 million, five-year contract with BT, for example, while the Germans will bring Lufthansa to the tournament, Carlsberg will promote its association with Denmark and South Korea’s Hyundai will be represented by the Czech Republic.

The list goes on (and on). To capture the complex network of sponsors at Euro 2020 we created a network graphic of some of the most prominent and significant deals on show over the coming weeks. For reasons of clarity, we weren’t able to include every sponsor, but the range on display is revealing.

Euro 2020 teams and associated sponsors. Photo: Paul Widdop and Simon Chadwick, author provided

What becomes immediately clear is that although the UEFA European Championship is a continental tournament, its commercial reach is truly global. A significant number of sponsors are either not European or else have divisions that operate way beyond the borders of Europe.

At the same time, the sponsorship portfolio shows us that football is at the heart of the entertainment, lifestyle and digital economies. Gone are the days of motor-oil and office photocopier sponsorships. Instead we see a profusion of drinks brands, confectionery products and airlines.

In addition, the sponsorship of teams appears to go hand-in-hand with the promotion of national identity and national industry. “Brand Germany” for instance, is strongly represented by some of the country’s most important corporations, including Adidas and Volkswagen.

The appearance of Gazprom meanwhile, reflects the increasing use by nations of sponsorship as a geopolitical instrument. Indeed, the state-owned Russian gas company has recently put its associations with UEFA and others to influential use.

Europe’s own goal

Equally, “Brand China” is now a major industrial and political power, and home to five of UEFA’s biggest tournament sponsors (Alipay, Antchain, Hisense, TikTok and Vivo).

Corporate America continues to endure too, represented by the likes of Coca Cola and IMG. The US has always been the home of contemporary sport sponsorship, and the country’s businesses continue to derive significant commercial value from it.

In fact, the underdogs in this big-money corporate competition appear to be the Europeans themselves. For an event being staged in countries including England, Italy, Spain and Romania, UEFA draws very few of its sponsors from the continent. Instead, it is clear that organisations from China and the US have both the financial muscle and the tactical brains to successfully dominate the tournament.

This reflects broader global trends which indicate the declining presence of European industry. European companies account for a falling percentage of global output. The market capitalisation of European firms is way behind that of American corporations and is fast being caught by Chinese firms. And the world’s technological hot spots are found in places such as Shenzhen and Silicon Valley, not in Europe.

Whether the footballing squad from France, Portugal or Switzerland lifts the trophy in July, there is no doubt that the UEFA tournament will be an on field triumph for Europe.

But the forces of globalisation, digitalisation and politico-economic change, reflected in the Euros’ portfolio of sponsors, will keep on playing long after the final whistle blows. And European industry could pay the penalty with a swift exit from the global industrial competition.The Conversation

Simon Chadwick, global professor of Eurasian Sport, Director of Eurasian Sport, EM Lyon and Paul Widdop, senior lecturer in sport business, Leeds Beckett University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Black Lives Matter and the Fight for England’s Soul

England’s two warm-up games for Euro 2020 were marred by their fans booing the taking of the knee. Despite a plea by England coach Gareth Southgate, it’s an issue that threatens to engulf their tournament.


England’s players go into their opening game of the European Championship on Sunday against Croatia — the first blockbuster contest of the tournament — already knowing that a significant minority of their fans are hostile towards them.

England are one of the many nations whose players have decided to take a knee before games to express their opposition to racism and their solidarity with the statement that Black Lives Matter. It’s a simple but powerful symbol in support of the oppressed and against the oppressor.

However, the gesture has been rejected by thousands of England fans, who booed the knee in the team’s two warm-up games for the tournament, both held in the English city of Middlesbrough.

‘Smear campaign’

It has triggered a national debate about the taking of the knee and why it is being booed — the dominant argument against the knee is that BLM is a “Marxist” organisation. This myth has emanated from a single interview with one of BLM’s co-founders in 2015, Patrisse Cullors, who described herself and fellow BLM co-founders “trained Marxists”.

Cullors left her role on June 4 to concentrate on other projects but has described the characterisation of BLM as Marxist as a far-right smear campaign, and there is significant evidence to support this. But amplified by Britain’s dominant right-wing press and influential figures on the far right, the myth has taken hold.

Following Middlesbrough, England’s popular coach Gareth Southgate felt the need to take to the Players’ Tribune website this week and compose an open letter to England fans, entitled ‘Dear England’. In elegant prose, Southgate outlined exactly why his players take a knee — and those reasons don’t remotely involve overthrowing western capitalism and establishing a new communist order, as the key architect of Brexit and far-right commentator Nigel Farage spouted in a YouTube post this week.

He stopped short of saying that Black people have no place in England and that, actually, Black Lives don’t Matter — but even his 270,000 subscribers are able to read between the lines. Farage concluded his statement with a closing threat, urging Southgate to “focus on football and not politics, otherwise we’re in for a really, really horrible, divisive few weeks”.

Identity crisis

If this all sounds familiar, you’d be right. The United Kingdom’s collective failure to adequately challenge the toxic myths behind this age of discontent contributed to the Brexit vote of 2016.

The fallout from that decision is still playing out, currently under the guise of England players taking the knee, but there are and will be other battlefields on which English football fans, as actors in the country’s most popular sport, play a prominent role.

Also read: Seeing India Through the Black Lives Matter Protests

“I understand that on this island, we have a desire to protect our values and traditions — as we should — but that shouldn’t come at the expense of introspection and progress,” Southgate wrote in his open letter, ahead of an announcement by the Scottish Football Association on Friday that they will abandon their policy of not taking a knee for one game — when they face England on June 18 — in solidarity with England’s players.

“Our players are role models. And, beyond the confines of the pitch, we must recognise the impact they can have on society. We must give them the confidence to stand up for their teammates and the things that matter to them as people.”

National self-harm

The irony is that those fans who boo need look no further than their own players for a true reflection of what England in 2021 really is. Half of Southgate’s squad could have represented other nations, from Ireland to New Zealand, Jamaica to Nigeria.

It’s also the second youngest squad at Euro 2020, a team whose average age of 24.8 places the majority of their players among a generation who simply won’t accept the injustice of structural racism and discrimination any longer.

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, who has embarrassed the British government on its failure to provide food for underprivileged children, and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who has spoken out in support of the LGBTQIA+ community, are just two of the players whose actions and gestures should make England fans proud.

Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson. Photo: Daniel Leal Olivas/Reuters/File

Instead, there are a mostly older generation of England fans who simply aren’t able to stomach such a challenge to the status quo.

So instead of elevating England’s world-class talent on the field, the they seem intent on holding them back just as this young team, including many major tournament debutants, needs its supporters most.

As former England striker Gary Lineker succinctly tweeted last week: “If you boo England players for taking the knee, you’re part of the reason why players are taking the knee.”

England have an exciting mix of players heading into a tournament but their resilience in continuing to take a knee is infinitely more impressive – “humble, proud and liberated in being their true selves” according to Southgate.

But to some England fans, being Black and being English are mutually exclusive identities, and it’s that sizeable minority who are indulging in yet another act of Great British self-harm.

(DW)