The Sporting Event of 2008.
No, it’s not the Olympics. It’s not the World Series, or even the Super Bowl. It’s UEFA’s European Championship which is being held in Austria and Switzerland beginning June 7th. The final will be in Vienna on June 29th.
2004’s European Championship Final had 279 million viewers. The last Olympics held in Italy averaged 20 million.
Team sports draw more attention than individual sport. Football (Soccer, Futbol) is the world’s ultimate team sport. Even the greatest goalie needs the defending of the back line and the forwards can’t score goals without the battles fought by the midfielders.
Anyone in the world, of any upbringing financially and/or socially, can play and excel at football. Not so much with the majority of the events in the Olympics. Many of these events require benefit of “situation” mainly; money. For example; cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, etc.
The list is twice as long for the Winter Olympics. Frankly, it would be very hard to name an Olympic gold medalist from a dirt-poor 3rd world country. In football there are countless rags to riches stories starting with the greatest to ever play the game, Pele, to George Best who stands as an icon to the United Kingdom.
I will not go into the current political situation involving China and Tibet - that is just one more reason why the Olympics are not the sporting event of the year.
The UEFA European Championship has been held every four years since 1960.
Qualifying begins immediately after the conclusion or the FIFA World Cup. This year, eight of the top 10 teams in the world are participating. The missing two just so happen to be the top two, Argentina, and Brazil, respectively.
England, currently ranked 11th in the world, did not qualify for the tournament. Ironic considering being regarded as the “birthplace” of football, having one of the largest and most fervent world-wide fan bases, and being home to arguably the most popular professional league in the world: the Barclays Premiership.
UEFA (United European Football Associations) was founded in 1954. Its creation was brought about after discussions between the French, Italian, and Belgian FAs (Football Associations) for the financial and competitive benefit (power through unity) of all nations involved.
There are 16 teams participating in the Championship. The two host countries qualify automatically; quite a shame this year seeing as Austria (ranked 102nd in the world) and Switzerland (46th) have absolutely no chance of making it out the first round-their competition being far superior.
The defending champion is Greece—the host of the 2004 Championship—who upset Portugal in a thrilling Final. This year is Austria and Poland’s first appearance. Germany has the most appearances with nine, Russia is next with eight, and The Netherlands and Spain come in 3rd with seven each.
The tournament is broken into four groups—two teams emerge from each group and continue into a playoff.
Group A
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey
Group BAustria
Croatia
Germany
Poland
Group C
Netherlands
Italy
Romania
France
Group D
Greece
Sweden
Spain
Russia
Group C was coined: "The Group of Death"
Germany, Italy, and Spain are all favorites.
My predictions of who will come out of the group stages: Czech Republic, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Greece, and Spain.
As for the winner: I think Italy will win and hold both the Euro Championship and the World Cup.
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2 months ago
Thanks for sharing Mike. I just want France or Italy to win to make me feel better :P
2 months ago
June is going to be one fun, fantastic, month of football. I can't wait. I'll be pulling for the Netherlands.
2 months ago
Group A is an embarrassment and group c is truly treacherous. I think Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Greece, & Spain move on. The winer will come down to who wins and comes 2nd in these groups. It might just be Germany's time.
from 2 months ago
Why is group A an 'embarrassment'?
from 2 months ago
Because its a cupcake group and leaves Holland, Italy, and France pitted against eachother. For some odd reason it seems Portugal always gets it easy, imo.
from 2 months ago
Czech Republic are a great side and may well beat Portugal.
2 months ago
Im sure the 2004 championships was held in Portugal, wasn't it?
Btw, "Dirt-Poor 3rd world country" -- Was that a slight racist dig ???
2 months ago
Salomon you are absolutely correct-my bad, I meant to state THE HOST WAS UPSET in the 2004 Final. Thank you.
Just because I referanced taxonomy,(is there a wealthy third world country?), in no way indicates a prejudice. Careful with the racist card sir.
from 2 months ago
Think South Africa would be one.....
from 2 months ago
It just sounded a lil racist to me because you included the word "dirt". I just simply asked you but other people might actually get offended by that.
Its all good though.......
2 months ago
come on mike...you can take a better swipe at the Chinese than this!
its a FACT that the SUMMER Olympics--which is what will happen in Beijing--NOT the winter Olympics...will attract OVER 4 BILLION viewers. not a couple hundred million.
another FACT is that England ain't all that as a team.
this is not the first time they will miss the big dance. they failed to qualify for both the world cup and the Euro cups on SEVERAL occasions.
British teams haven't won the premier European club competitions more than teams from Italy, Sspain or Germany. even Ajax, that dutch team steeped in winning tradition, is as successful as Manchester United--a team which outspends their dutch counterparts by at least 20-fold.
it is TRUE that we will see an all English champions league this year and i will take nothing from the remaining teams.
but the premiership is far from the best league in the world. its not even the best league in europe!
the top four EPL teams are among the 20 best in Europe. that is a given...but don't forget that west bromich albion will be playing in the EPL next season.
can west brom beat fiorentina? AC Milan?
come on skipper! be real!
whosoever leaves Moscow with the trophy will be the best team in Europe in 07-08. plain and simple.
but come summer in the alps...both host teams will account for themselves.
as for Greece? how many people had them as favourites when they won?
take a look at who might win: turkey, Germany, France, Portugal [Spain ALWAYS finds a way to lose, so count them out]
be fair man. just be fair.
from 2 months ago
Can the teams at the bottom of Serie A beat Man Utd? What a pointless statement that was! What has Ajax done in the last 10 years? And Turkey have a better chance at avoiding the dinner table at xmas than they do of winning.
2 months ago
Thank you, little buddy(to my skipper), for clarifying that its the SUMMER olympics in Beijing. My statement is just that; mine. I stated the LAST Olympics-no matter it Summer or Winter. Do not skew what I said into something you want it to be. Anyways, ratings and proof of viewership is extremely hard to nail down. One source has Athens'04 averaging(for the U.S.) a 15 rating while another has it at a 14.5. One source has Sydney'00 at 14.4; another at 13.8.
Not much of your comment makes sense really. I did not write about the UEFA Champions League.
"whosoever leaves Moscow with the trophy will be the best team in Europe in 07-08"well, they're both going to be from the Premiership-which you acknowledged. How does this support your argument?
"the premier European club competitions". So, by this statement you are implying there's more than one premier club competition? You couldn't possibly mean The UEFA Cup-the tournament that has all the SECOND TIER teams in each league competing against each other; teams that aren't good enough for The Champions League? Please, don't kid yourself. Everyone knows that "tournament" is comparable to our N.I.T in college basketball-kinda a joke.
As for West Brom and Fiorentina; Actually West Brom has won their League One title once; Fiorentina twice(wow, dominance) and West Brom has won the FA Cup 5 times; Fiorentina has won their comparable Coppa Italia 6 times(man! owned!). Could West Brom beat Fiorentina? Yeah! Absolutely they could!! Tell me why not? They reached the semi finals of the FA Cup this year. They're getting promoted to Division 1(which means they MUST be winners). What?
Now, to be fair, I'm gonna stop now. But before I do, just one more thing; Explain "both host teams will account for themselves". Uh, ok. I honestly hope they (Austria and Switzerland)both come out of the first round which means huge upsets. But, their world rankings; they don't mean anything? Thats what I was referancing. Thats all. And with the Premiership not being the most popular in Europe; to you maybe. To alot of people I'm sure. Check the television ratings though. Check the financial stats on the new television contract the Premiership now has and the influx of money each team will each receive because of this. Go ahead..look it up. Compare the sum of apparel revenue figures of the whole Premiership against other leagues. How about just the general net worth of the clubs comparatively. Go ahead little buddy.
One more thing-the UEFA Champions League; won 11 times each by an Italian team and a Spanish team. An English team has won it 10 times. Wow. That is a HUGE differance.
P.S. Say hi to Iker Casillas, Fernando Torres, Sergio Ramos, Cesc Fabregas, Carlos Puyol, and Fernando Morientes for me.
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