A black cloud accompanies the kickers

Am I already in the starting blocks? That means the drinks supply is filled, snacks are stored, the buddies know what's going on. It's the European Championships and we're bursting with anticipation. Aha. Interesting. But I don't feel anything, absolutely nothing. The so-called spectacle begins tomorrow with the game between Italy and Turkey in the Olympic Stadium in Rome. And Germany will play against world champions France on Tuesday. The pulse should actually really get going. He does not. And I'm sorry that it is like that. For myself, because I used to look forward to a continental championship like this. That was always a highlight of the year.

So what happened? On the one hand, there is still the pandemic and corona cases, even in different teams. And then we are served a European Championship that will be held in eleven different countries. Contrails in the sky always show us which team is currently flying where. Various entry regulations regarding Corona have of course been lifted for the men's kickers. After all, it's about football, and rules imposed on the general public don't count. This could be a terrible fallacy This is so typical of the special position of football that my sympathy value decreases. And sustainability? Ridiculous to even mention such a word in football circles. The main thing is that the ruble rolls, politics plays along and probably ultimately many fans who are now allowed into the stadiums. At least 14.000 in Munich. In Budapest they want 61.000 to watch. Full hut. Everyone with face masks, of course, and five centimeters apart.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has plans that not everyone likes. © APA/afp / GIUSEPPE CACACE

I suspect that the European Football Association (UEFA) will now claim that the incidence values are falling everywhere and that the Corona pass is coming soon. All of this is supposed to make us believe: It's over, we can get back to work. It doesn't have to be, but it can be a terrible fallacy. A World Cup every two years? But let's let them play first, the elite of kickers, because who knows how long a European Championship will have any sporting value at all. This is not the fault of the protagonists, but has to do with the World Football Association (FIFA), whose president Gianni Infantino dreams of holding a World Cup every two years. That would be instant death for the EM. And Infantino doesn't just dream. He has opened a second branch. In Paris. Near the source of money, Qatar. This two-year rhythm seems to signify an ineradicable belief in progress among sports officials. This was and has always been a fatally wrong decision.

“By next year, everything that happens in the next four weeks will be old news again. Then the Football World Cup is coming up in the Christmas period.” The European Athletics Championships, which now take place every two years instead of every four years, have lost a lot of their appeal, especially since the Olympic Games also have to be taken into account. In these years there will be a so-called small, scaled-down European Championship, which is basically an admission of defeat in futures poker. Biathletes take part in European Championships every year, as do figure skaters. At the latest when the world championships in these sports take place every year, it becomes clear: these European championships are a model without value.

This scenario is now also threatening football. It hangs like a black cloud over this European Championship of traveling madness because, don't forget, next year everything that happens in the next four weeks will be old news again. Then the Football World Cup is coming up over Christmas. In Qatar.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

A black cloud accompanies the kickers

The European Championships are just around the corner - but our columnist Sigi Heinrich doesn't have a European Championship feeling yet. There are several reasons for this, as he describes in his section.

Suggestions

Comments (0)