A year later than planned, Euro 2020 finally ready to dazzle the football world

Singapore

FIFTY-ONE football matches in 11 stadiums in 11 cities, spread over 31 days and four time zones, involving 24 national teams and over 600 of the world's top players.

This year's European football championships - still known as Euro 2020 even though it's being played 364 days later than originally planned - is, to put it simply, a logistical nightmare of the highest order.

And that's not even factoring in just how much tougher it is to execute once you factor in different and ever-changing coronavirus protocols in the host cities, which can scupper already complicated travel restrictions in the blink of an eye.

Earlier this week, Spain announced that captain Sergio Busquets had tested positive for Covid-19, throwing their preparations for their opening match against Sweden on Monday into disarray.

Scotland, meanwhile, were forced to leave out six players from a friendly match against the Netherlands last week as a precaution after their midfielder John Fleck tested positive.

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Europe is still in the throes of the pandemic with some countries dealing with fresh waves of infections and concerns over new variants, so it will be quite an achievement if the tournament goes on without any major hiccup from now until the grand final in London on July 12.

The first match takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on Friday night (Saturday 3am kick-off, Singapore time) with Italy facing Turkey, after a glittering opening ceremony featuring U2 artists Bono and The Edge, and Dutch DJ Martin Garrix.

Pan-continental event

It was back in 2012 when Michel Platini, the then-president of European football's governing body UEFA, mooted the idea of hosting the quadrennial championships across the continent, rather than in a single country.

It was a rather novel proposal at the time. Doing so in 2020 would coincide with the 60th anniversary of the summer football fiesta, said Platini then, and it would bring the matches to a wider range of cities, some of which would otherwise never have the chance to stage such matches.

A lot has changed since then.

As it turns out, Platini, a 65-year-old Frenchman who is widely regarded as one of the best footballers of all time, never got to see his ambitious plans to fruition.

In 2015, he was part of a corruption scandal that saw FIFA president Sepp Blatter ousted from power.

Later that year, both Blatter and Platini were found guilty of ethics violations and barred from working in football until 2023.

Platini's successor at UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, came on board in 2016 and ultimately chose to stick with the plans for a continent-wide tournament, given that several host cities had already been announced.

Pandemic mode

Given that Euro 2020 is the biggest sporting event in Europe and the third-largest in the world after the Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, it didn't come as too big of a surprise that the event was pushed back by a year, instead of being cancelled.

Mr Ceferin has been quoted in earlier reports as saying that cancellation would have resulted in huge financial losses. This, in turn, would affect the running of many football federations in Europe that rely heavily on stipends from UEFA.

In the end, the decision was made to press on with Euro 2020 and hold the games in 11 sites.

The host cities are spread across Europe - from Seville in Spain, which is near the southwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, all the way to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, the oil-rich country on the Caspian Sea.

Looking at the world map, Baku is actually closer in distance to Baghdad and Teheran than to any of the tournament's 10 other host cities.

In a sign that some normalcy is returning to the sport, spectators will be allowed at all 51 matches, with capacity limits in place at the stadiums.

The Hungarian capital Budapest is allowing its 67,215-seater Puskas Arena to be filled to capacity for each of its four scheduled matches, so long as ticket-holders meet all of the city's strict entry requirements.

The 87,000-seater Wembley Stadium in London will have a minimum capacity of 25 per cent for the first three group matches, as well as the Round of 16 fixture.

Depending on the British government, Wembley could see larger crowds for subsequent matches as the tournament goes on.

With so many players, staff and spectators moving to and from the host cities over the next four weeks, UEFA says it is prepared should a Covid-19 outbreak happen during Euro 2020.

If any of the teams have a confirmed infection, the players or staff will have to go into isolation. Matches can be postponed if more than half of a squad tests positive, with replacements allowed to be brought in to ensure the game can still proceed.

However, if a team cannot fulfil a fixture within 48 hours of its original kick-off time, it will be called off and the team with the positive tests will forfeit the game 3-0.

Football fever

Fans in Singapore are ready to plonk themselves in front of the TV as they savour their favourite sport well into the wee hours of the morning.

Due to time difference, most of the games here will kick off at either midnight or 3am, with seven fixtures - including England's clash with Croatia this Sunday - set to begin at the much-saner hour of 9pm.

There are three matches on Saturday night - Wales open their campaign against Switzerland (9pm), Denmark plays Finland (midnight), and the top-ranked Belgium takes on Russia (Sunday, 3am).

The six group winners, six runners-up and four best third-placed teams will qualify for the round of 16.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal won the last edition in 2016 and are looking to join Spain as the only country ever to retain the title. The likes of France, England, Germany, Belgium and Italy are among the favourites.

For those who fancy a flutter on an underdog to go all the way, local bookmaker Singapore Pools is offering some pretty tasty odds of 200-to-1 on tournament debutants Finland and North Macedonia to win the trophy.

That means a fun five-dollar bet would see a cool return of S$1,000 if either of them can pull off what would be - by far - the biggest upset in football history.

It's worth noting that in March, North Macedonia - a country that many would struggle to identify on a map - defeated the mighty Germany 2-1 in a 2022 World Cup qualifying match in the German city of Duisburg.

And last November, Finland went to Paris and defied all expectations to beat world champions France 2-0 in a friendly match.

With so many uncertainties both on and off the pitch, it is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable and enthralling football tournaments in the sport's history.

The waiting is finally over, and all that's left is for one of the 24 countries - having navigated all the obstacles to make it this far - to go all the way and lift the Henri Delaunay trophy in four weeks' time in London.