Why Is Euro 2020 Not Called Euro 2021: Facts About The Name Changing

Photo: AP

Football fans get ready because, after a longer wait than we had expected, Euro 2020 is finally about to get underway and we couldn’t be more excited for the first match to kick off.

The original dates were moved due to the pandemic – it was hard to stage a football competition with multiple countries involved when most travel was off the table – but the wait is almost over,with the contest starting on June 11th and all the Euro 2020 fixtures already confirmed.

But why has the European competition not been renamed Euro 2021 given the lengthy delay? Well, we have the answer for you below and it is a simpler explanation than you may have expected.

Euro 2020 name: Is it Euro 2020 or 2021?

The Euro 2020 was officially postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and now the tournament is scheduled to take place in the summer of 2021. The showpiece event is set to begin from June 11 onwards with the final being played a month later on July 11, almost exactly 12 months after the original dates were decided by UEFA. However, fans have been curious to know why the tournament is still called Euro 2020 despite the fact that it is being held in 2021.

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Why is Euro 2020 not Euro 2021? Euro 2020 name maintained to honour 60-year tradition

Photo: Sport5

To change to the name would require a change to the branding and all the things said branding has been placed on. The work for the competition would have started long before it was postponed last year and there is already a ton of merchandise around with “Euro 2020” plastered all over it.

Swapping it to Euro 2021 means all that would need to change, and any official merchandise fans have already picked up will become redundant – or possibly a collector’s item depending on how much of it is already out there.

Following the postponement of UEFA EURO 2020 to the summer of 2021 and after a thorough internal review as well as several discussions with partners, the UEFA Executive Committee decided that the tournament would still be known as EURO 2020. This decision allows UEFA to keep the original vision of the tournament, which was set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Football Championship (1960–2020).

A statement from UEFA said, "It will furthermore serve as a reminder of how the whole football family came together to respond to the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, and of the difficult times that Europe, and the world, had to go through in 2020. This choice is in line with UEFA's commitment to make UEFA EURO 2020 sustainable and not to generate additional amounts of waste. A lot of branded material had already been produced by the time of the tournament's postponement. A name change for the event would have meant the destruction and reproduction of such items."

While the original plan had 12 cities as hosts, UEFA has decided to kick off the event in 11 cities. The host cities are London, Seville, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Budapest, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Rome, Munich, Baku and Saint Petersburg.

UEFA Euro 2020: History

Photo: UEFA logo

The 2018–20 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as 2020 UEFA European Championship, UEFA Euro 2020, or simply Euro 2020, is scheduled to be the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

The tournament, to be held in 11 cities in 11 UEFA countries, was originally scheduled from 12 June to 12 July 2020. The tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and rescheduled for 11 June to 11 July 2021. The tournament will still retain the name "UEFA Euro 2020".

UEFA President Michel Platini said in 2012 that the tournament was to be hosted in several nations as a "romantic" one-off event to celebrate the 60th "birthday" of the European Championship competition. Having the largest capacity of any of the stadiums entered for the competition, Wembley Stadium in London is scheduled to host the semi-finals and final for the second time, having done so before at the 1996 tournament in the stadium's former incarnation. The Stadio Olimpico in Rome was chosen to host the opening game, involving Turkey and hosts Italy. Originally to be played at 13 venues, two hosts were later removed: Brussels in December 2017 due to delays with the building of the Eurostadium, and Dublin in April 2021 as there was no guarantee for spectators to attend. Spain also changed their host city from Bilbao to Seville to allow an audience at matches.

Portugal are the defending champions, having won the 2016 competition. The video assistant referee (VAR) system will make its debut at the European Championship in this tournament.

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