ABSTRACT

The UEFA European Championship 2020 (UEFA EURO, 2020) is a pioneer project. For the first time, a mobile mega-event will take place over an entire continent. It will be hosted by 13 cities in 13 countries, using mainly existing infrastructure, primarily football stadiums but also airports, railway stations and highways. The intent is that overall infrastructural costs should be much lower and, consequently, the pressure on each hosting city and country should be dramatically reduced (Böcking 2012; UEFA.com, 2014; Weinreich, 2012c). In addition, it has become very difficult to host the Games since 2016, as 24 teams now participate in the tournament. Other reasons given by UEFA refer to the sixtieth anniversary of the European championship, which will occur in 2020. UEFA has aimed, in this way, to bring the tournament to European fans’ front doors (UEFA.com, 2016; UEFA.com, 2014). Finally, UEFA has stressed the opportunity for smaller countries to become part of this mega-event (Weinreich, 2012b; Winkler, 2014).