‘The more, the merrier?’ Euro 2020, transnational collaboration, opportunities and challenges

ABSTRACT

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro 2020 will, for the first time in the history, be staged in 12 different countries across the European continent. However, such a geographically diffuse celebration also gives life to certain challenges. Particularly for the event’s security, which will involve a larger number of host countries and actors, responsible for, and required to cooperate transnationally and form what literature refers to as ‘security networks’. As such, this article draws upon academic literature in the fields of sociology, policing and event management and delineates three key challenges and related opportunities speaking to international cooperation between security actors provided by Euro 2020’s format. These include (1) overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers (2) valuable lessons for less experienced hosts and (3) establishment of new, ‘good practices’. Undeniably, the event produces opportunities, but also significant hurdles, important to give academic attention and examination with the event approaching in time.

RESUMEN

Pour la première fois, l’Euro 2020 sera organisé par l’Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA) dans 12 différents pays d’Europe. Cependant, une célébration aussi éparse sur le plan géographique comporte des défis inhérents. Ceux-ci s’appliquent tout particulièrement au domaine de la sécurité de l’événement, qui impliquera un plus grand nombre de pays hôtes et d’acteurs responsables appelés à coopérer sur le plan international pour former ce qu’on appelle des « réseaux de sécurité ». À ce titre, le présent article s’appuie sur la littérature académique dans les domaines de la sociologie, du maintien de l’ordre et de la gestion d’événements. Il décrit, en outre, trois défis essentiels et les opportunités connexes en matière de coopération internationale entre acteurs du domaine de la sécurité fournis par le format Euro 2020. Il s’agit entre autres de: (1) surmonter les barrières culturelles et linguistiques, (2) des leçons utiles pour les hôtes moins expérimentés et de (3) la mise en place de nouvelles « bonnes pratiques ». Indéniablement, l’événement génère des occasions, mais soulève également des obstacles suffisamment importants pour qu’on lui accorde une attention et un examen d’ordre académique.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport mega-events
• Euro 2020
• football
• cooperation
• knowledge transfer

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Méga-événement sportif
• Euro 2020
• tournoi de football
• coopération
• gestion d’événements

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The author would like to clarify that this article was written and accepted several months before the global COVID-19 pandemic which would result in a 12-month postponement of the relevant mega-event in this article, Euro 2020. The new proposed days for the event, as confirmed by UEFA, is for now, 11 June to 11 July 2021. Yet to be consistent throughout, it is referred to as Euro 2020 here, given that the official tournament name is yet to change on the event owners’ official channels. The author remains hopeful that this note will mitigate any potential confusions. See: https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid=2641071.html

2. When searching for this publicly available document upon Google, it says that it was uploaded in 2013. However, there is no publishing date inside the document which is the reason why I refer to this document as UEFA (n.d.) throughout.

3. Mega-event is defined as ‘large-scale, cultural (including commercial and sporting) events, which have a dramatic character, mass popular appeal and international significance’ (Roche, 2000, p. 1).

4. Consult Giulianotti (2011, p. 3296) for a figure dividing ‘specific/diffuse sport mega-events’.

5. Interestingly, during the write up of this paper, it was in fact announced that the 2026 World Cup would be jointly hosted by Mexico, Canada and the USA.

6. Boyle (2011) employs the term ‘security knowledge networks’. To clarify, this study will consistently refer to these as ‘security networks’. The principles remain the same.

7. For an example of this in the context of football policing, see C. Stott et al. (2018, pp. 11), who find levels of ‘antagonism among police colleagues’ for the policing operation related one high-risk English football game between Bradford and Oldham . It is not unthinkable that this, to some extent, may arise as a problem in the wider-SME sphere too. See for example, Fussey (2015), who documents this in the London Olympics in 2012.

8. Admittedly, supporters may travel to the city where the game is played in the days ahead and stay after the game too.