Major Changes for Euro 2020

President of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, arrived in London last week to unveil the logo for Euro 2020, the 60th edition of the continental tournament. Not only was the branding announced, but UEFA confirmed the location of 13 host cities spread across Europe from Dublin in the west to Baku, Azerbaijan in the east. While many greeted the news with scepticism, it is not all be doom and gloom for Europe's most prestigious tournament.

For most of the cities, including Dublin, Glasgow and Baku, their respective nations are unlikely to ever have the infrastructure to host the major tournament, so this new format gives them an opportunity to immerse themselves in the competition, a privilege they would not have got if the structure remained untouched.

Unlike most tournaments, where the host qualifies automatically, everyone will have to fight for their spot in the tournament, which will be helped by additional qualification spots through the introduction of the UEFA Nations League. Ex-UEFA President, Michel Platini toyed with the idea of a revamped Euros with his successor, Ceferin putting the plan into action.

One criticism about the new structure, is the selection of locations. No matches are being played in France, presumably as they hosted the tournament in the summer, while Baku, Azerbaijan and St Petersburg, Russia are the furthest that anyone will have to travel. Both will be difficult to travel to, with no direct flights from London Heathrow and prices already totalling close to £300 for a one way ticket. St Petersburg is slightly cheaper with a one way ticket costing £107 out of London Gatwick. It is also good to put the World Cup into perspective, Brazil has an area of 3.288 million square miles,  just 700,000 less than Europe, while Russia is almost twice the size of Europe while USA is roughly similar.

All of the stadiums exceed a 50,000 capacity except Parken in Copenhagen which holds a modest 38,000, with destination of the Final, Wembley, holding the most at 90,000. As the majority of stadiums are already built - the Krestovsky Stadium in St Petersburg is due to be completed by the end of the year and the Puskas Ferenc Arena in Budapest will be opened in 2019 - all will have a purpose once the tournament and costs will be low for each host city.

Travel links between each of the cities in Europe are extensive, and with a bit of patience an appropriate deal at a cost effective price can be found. It is possible that €200 could cover your travel expenses for the group stages, with an Interrail global pass being one of your many ways to travel on a budget. Rome, Munich, Budapest, Copahagen, Brussels and Bucharest are all popular interrailing destinations so rail travel between the cities should not be a problem.

The recently elected UEFA President believes that the tournament will be a success, commenting, "There is great pleasure in being able to see football acting as a bridge between nations, and to carry the competition closer to the fans who are the essential lifeblood of the game." After the hooliganism and terror threats that plagued Euro 2016, the controversial World Cup bids from Russia and Qatar and the deaths and protests that marred Brazil 2014, I'm willing to give the new format a chance.

Champions League Last 16 Draw 2015

After the conclusion to the group stage last Wednesday the draw has been made in Switzerland for the last 16.

PSG v Chelsea

It's a rematch of last year's quarter final where Mourinho's Chelsea meet Blanc's PSG. Chelsea will be quietly confident, particularly with rumours about an upset dressing room in Paris. Chelsea will aim to eradicate the mistakes made in the match last year and with Costa in fine form I expect him to find away past Luiz and Silva in the heart of the Parisian's defence. Facing his former side, Chelsea will certainly know the weaknesses of David know and will hope to exploit them. At John Terry at the heart of Chelsea's defence, I can't see Ibra getting the better of him. Edinson Cavani has talent but he has been far too inconsistent at PSG, but if he turns up, he could steal the show from Chelsea. PSG will be up for the match, they need to be. Having spent hundreds of millions on players over the past few years, they will be hoping for a better run than previous campaigns.

Man City v Barcelona

It's a crunch tie and one that City will be relishing and they'll want revenge for their exit last year. I believe two factors will decide the outcome of the game and that's Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero, if they're both fit, then they stand as good a chance as anyone to turn Barcelona over. Obviously, they will be focusing on how to prevent the Catalonian strike force from firing and it will take their defenders at the best to do so. When Kompany is out of the team, the defence looks vulnerable, particularly as Mangala can be quite eccentric at times and Demichelis is lacking in pace. Up front, Aguero can rip any defence to shreds on his day, and he will be backing his qualities to get joy from a Barca defence that are susceptible to mishaps at times. City will need to play smart football and be tactically astute, something which I've been critical of Manuel Pellegrini. They can proceed, but only if Kompany and Aguero are available to play.

Arsenal v Monaco

Arsene Wenger returns to his former club for the first time since he left 18 years ago. Monaco have been struggling in the league this year and are evidently feeling the consequences of selling James Rodriguez to Real Madrid and letting Radamel Falcao go on loan to Manchester United. Wenger will be looking to exploit the lack of pace in Monaco's defence, through Danny Welbeck, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez. Arsenal will have to contend with the pace of exciting young attacker, Lucas Ocampos down the flanks and former Spurs player Dimitar Berbatov, who is capable of producing something out of nothing. Surging runs from Geoffrey Kondogbia will need to be tracked, and this may exploit Arsenal's lack of a defensive midfielder. Even with Arsenal's defensive frailties, I still expect them to have too much strength for the principality, providing they do not pick up many injuries between now and then.

Schalke v Real Madrid

Last year Cristiano Ronaldo scored 4 goals in the 2 legs against Schalke, contributing to a 6-1 romp in Gelsenkirchen. Admittedly, I don't know too much about Schalke, only that they have an exciting youth academy and that they produce talented youngsters such as Julian Draxler and Max Meyer. Currently sitting in sixth position, I don't forecast them troubling the Champions League holders. Madrid should have enough strength to brush off the challenge of the side from Gelsenkirchen. 

Shakhtar v Bayern.

Our final look is at Pep Guardiola's Bayern. Shakhtar possess some lively players such as the ably named Brazilian winger Bernard as well Alex Texeira, Fred, Douglas Costa and Taison, not to mention the veteran, Darijo Srna. On the other hand, Bayern have a solid but slow defence so they cannot play a high line up against some of Shakhtar's pacey players. Even for the German champions, Ukraine will be a tough place to go to but in true Guardiola fashion, Bayern will dominate the proceedings and comfortably win at home.

All the first leg ties will be played on either the 17th-18th or 24th-25th February while the return legs will be played  10th-11th or 17th-18th March.

A Step Too Far for FIFA?

When Qatar was announced as the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, it caused a tremendous amount of controversy and now with recent influential football figures backing the proposal for it to clash with the Winter Olympics, the feud could spark into life again.

I remember in 2010 being told that the World Cup was being held in Qatar, and looking towards my friends with a quizzical appearance and in my naivety and adolescent nature retorted with the sentence, "I thought a guitar was a musical instrument?" From that short anecdote, I am sure you can tell that what I am about to write will not be showing any great faith in the actions of FIFA with regards to the allocation of the 2022 World Cup.

In fairness to Qatar, if they can pull of stadiums
like this, then they deserve some credit

To begin with, how Qatar were ever elected hosts of the World Cup ahead of Australia and the USA is beyond me. As far as I can see, both of these nations would be better equipped to host the tournament than Qatar. Australia and the US already has quality fully developed stadiums from hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and 1994 World Cup respectively, including the Suncorp Stadium, ANZ Stadium and the Docklands Stadium, all of which hold over 52,000 seats. Likewise, the Americans have little problem with world class stadiums, Sun Life Stadium and Michigan Stadium to name a couple. As we saw from the World Cup past, construction of the stadia in Brazil came under critical analysis from the higher powers in the footballing world, but they decided to persevere, and numerous deaths were caused due to cursory preparations and the pressure that the stadia all had to be ready in time.

We're no more than 8 years from the beginning of the World Cup and already there have been claims that basic human rights denied to the workers. In addition to this, The Guardian newspaper have alleged that identity papers have been taken away from them and that their payments would not be paid on time, or even possibly at all. You'd think that a nation such as Qatar who built all their riches on oil, would be able to part themselves with a few coins and give them to the workers, who are building the stadia to facilitate this momentous event? From where I am sitting, it doesn't appear that this is the case.

Back in March, I wrote a piece entitled, "Will the World Cup be a Success?" in relation to my worries over the World Cup in Brazil, it seems now that I will be doing another one in the future to pen my concerns about it in Qatar. We were very cynical of the 8 deaths in the construction of the Brazilian stadiums, but when rumours sparked that 900 migrants have already lost their lives, FIFA and the Qatari football federation have questions to answer. In the report compiled by The Guardian, it estimates that up to 4,000 workers may die due to inadequate safety regulations and other causes by the time a ball is kicked. Rather selfishly however, FIFA may see this frightening statistic as a dampener on their reputation.


Disregarding the fact that FIFA have given the prized tournament to, in my opinion an unworthy nation, I tepidly applaud them for pushing the motion of staging the World Cup in the winter. Yes it will sent the European leagues' schedules up the left, which Richard Scudamore is arguing, but player safety is paramount and he seems to be neglecting this issue. Even in winter, the middle eastern country gets highs of 24oC, marginally higher than what we get here in Northern Ireland, so you could imagine what the temperature would be like in the peak of summer. It's not just the players that will suffer, the management and spectators alike will. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that alcohol dehydrates, so this doesn't look bright for the English fans who will no doubt have to drown their sorrows with the local beverage.

Controversy surrounds the 2022 host city and things only look like intensifying as the tournament draws nearer, while Australia and USA will be left cursing at how they didn't become hosts of the competition. While Blatter's corrupt regime rules over the world of football, it could be a long time before 'sensible' decisions return to our game.