European Football Championship Without Third Place Final

The European Football Championship (Euro), which has finished its semifinal schedule, now has only one match left for the long-awaited final between Spain and England. It is in contrast to the two matches of the South American Football Championship (Coppa America), which is underway at the same time, after the semifinals, including the final and the third-place match.

"The Euro, which was established in 1960, played the third-place match until the 1980 tournament, but it was abolished from 1984. The UEFA judged that the third-place match did not have much merit."

UEFA considered that after the semifinals, it would only like to see soccer fans compete for the championship, but was not interested in who would be ranked third.

According to Kicker, the 'attractive' third-place match at the Euro tournament was difficult even from the box office.

In both 1972 and 1976, the host country lost in the semifinals and was pushed to the third place final, but the spectatorship was limited to 6,184 and 6,766, respectively. More than 30,000 spectators attended the final round of the two competitions.

In the 1980s, host country Italy also played the third-place match against "defending champion" Czechoslovakia at the 1980s, and nearly 25,000 spectators attended the match. Although it was not a bad box office record, the audience share barely exceeded 30 percent considering the size of the stadium that can accommodate more than 80,000 spectators.

"Viewers are not interested in the third place match of the Euro tournament either. UEFA had to think about maximizing profits such as TV broadcasting rights, and the third place match ended up losing its economic value," the kicker said.

UEFA does not award a bronze medal to the team that lost in the semifinals of the 2008 and 2012 tournaments. The team once gave a bronze medal to the team that lost in the semifinals of the UEFA Euro tournament, but the rule was removed afterwards.

Meanwhile, the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England will be held at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, at 4 a.m. on Saturday. Spain is aiming for its fourth career championship, while England is aiming for its first ever Euro championship. 토토사이트 추천