An interesting insight into Euro Cup
Although, Europeans are always known for their 'party till you die' spirit, the level of this spirit gets extreme when the European Football Cup sets off. European nations, though united by European Union gets divided between countries when the bugle of this football saga is blown off. Even the stars, who play together in clubs for rest of the season are severed by this high voltage and fierce battle. The quiver and thrill associated with nail biting matches electrifies people so much that they remember nothing else. Even though football fever is 24*7 in Europe, it's presence can be felt the most when the European Cup gets going. Now let me brief you about it. Organized by Union of European Football Association (UEFA) once in every four years since 1960, it is one of the most viewed sporting events on earth. Prior to entering the tournament, all the teams other than the host nation(that qualify automatically) compete in a long and exhausting qualifying process that commence 2 years before the main event called finals.
The first ever Euro Championship took place in France(1960) with only 8 nations participating in it. Russia emerged as the winners ahead of Yugoslavia. While over the years number of participating nations have expanded to 24, nine different nations have tasted the success of being a Euro champion with Germany and Spain winning the most titles (3 each). The following of Euro Cup can be inferred from the stat that the 2002 Euro final was viewed globally by a record audience of 300 million.
Europe has always given birth to many legends in the history of world football along with South America and Africa. The likes of Gerd Muller, Zidane, Buffon and Ronaldo (Portugal) etc., have always mesmerized us with their playing style and abilities. They have consistently performed commendable job and in the process have uplifted the status of football over the decades.
"Football flows in the blood of Europeans"
The competition at Euros is so high that till now only one country - Spain(my favorite) has been able to defend it's title (2008 and 2012, the golden years when they introduced us with their Tiki-Taka style of play) in 14 European Championships so far. It can also also be deduced from the stat that at 1982 & 86 FIFA world cup (higher level), 14 out of 24 teams were European whereas only 8 teams out of those 14 qualified for Euros at that time. Such is the demand of excellence here! Such is the oomph it carries with it self.
Sadly we won't see Spain triumphing the ongoing Euro Cup in France for consecutive 3rd time as they were outclassed by Italians in the pre-quarters. However this outcome was expected as this football year has been termed by many as 'The year of Underdogs'. First we saw Leicester City conquering the world's most viewed, most followed, most happening and most fascinating football league 'The English Premier League' and now in the same fashion countries like Wales, Portugal and Iceland are taking their footsteps near the title especially Iceland.
Why I used 'especially' before Iceland is because this country of mere around 3 lakhs population and without any star presence - sent the whole world in disbelief when they perturbed many football superpowers (most famously against England). Responding to their sheer hard work and determination in a jiffy, people showed their admiration for them by posting messages of kudos all over the internet. Indians even compared them with our population (1 joke I read was that Rajeev Chowk handles 5 lakh commuters every day which is more than Iceland's entire population). Some even called them 'Underdog within Underdogs'.
All these nations with a tag of Underdog have proved their metal and will now act as a source of inspiration and motivation for other 'Underdog' nations ( like India) so that even the can dream of being a football powerhouse one day.
Finally after a month long quest among 24 nations in 50 jaw dropping matches, this scintillating and vivid carnival of football will give us the 'Champions of Europe' on 11th July.

















