2021 is the most Interesting year in football (so far)
Some would argue that 2020 was the most interesting year for football. With tournaments suspended everywhere, and even the European Championship postponed, we certainly had a lot to be worried about in 2020. Perhaps “interesting” is not the right word – “depressing” would describe 2020 much better.
Considering some of the things that happened in football this year, 2021 can certainly compete for the title of the Most Interesting Year in Football.
Secession!
After a year of little more than online football streams instead of fans on the grandstands, the purses of even the richest football clubs in Europe were empty. So, they came up with a plan to keep themselves afloat: a new Super League consisting of some of the strongest football teams in Europe. Their plan would’ve been beneficial for them – they expected to earn hundreds of millions of euros from the advertising and broadcast contracts alone.
The backlash against the plan was universal. Everyone from governments to fan organizations, FIFA and UEFA, and other football clubs were against the idea of the creation of an ‘elitist’ European league. So much so that pretty much every founding club withdrew – and were slapped with million-dollar fines by UEFA.
The European Super League fell through within days of its announcement.
EURO 2020
When he was still the president of UEFA, Michel Platini imagined a “romantic” EURO 2020 to celebrate the event’s 60th birthday. While he was since succeeded by Aleksander Čeferin, his plans were pushed through. The 2020 European Championship was hosted by a dozen cities across Europe. Of course, this event has attracted its share of criticism, too.
On one hand, UEFA was criticised for not allowing cities to hold matches behind closed doors. The hosts that wouldn’t guarantee enough in-person viewers were dropped from the circuit altogether. Bilbao was replaced by Seville in the circuit, and Dublin has dropped altogether, with the matches set to be held there transferred to London and Sankt Petersburg.
On the other hand, the long list of host cities turned the tournament into an unfair competition because of the travel times. While some teams played most of their matches at home, others had to fly thousands of miles between matches. And so did their fans.
Free-agent
Finally, here is one of the most interesting developments in the world of football this year: Lionel Messi walked away from Barcelona. The Argentine football star who spent his entire career at the Catalan club decided not to extend its contract before its expiration and became a free agent on June 30th this year.
Since then, it was revealed that Messi plans to sign a new contract with Barcelona. Because of the club’s precarious financial state, his salary will be reduced by 50% – the other details of his “transfer” will be revealed after he returns from his post-Copa America vacation.
It’s safe to say the first half of 2021 was perhaps the most interesting and intense time for European football as a whole. Here’s hoping that the second half of the year doesn’t have any surprises in store for us.