Euro 2016 to be held in France
The French have beaten the Turkish and Italian bids in the race to host the Euro 2016 football tournament. The decision came on Friday where UEFA declared that France had acquired the rights to host the European Championships for the next tournament.
After the final stage, the vote count indicated that France and Turkey had a slight lead over Italy. And despite the Italian’s making a posh call, they were signalled out of competition in the end as France and Turkey proceeded to the final voting round. It was a close call in the end for the French as they got seven votes while the Turk’s concluded their campaign with six votes in their kitty.
Moments after the final verdict, the president of FFF (Federation Francaise de Football) Jean-Pierre Escalettes exuberantly expressed, “It’s a great day for us.” He explained that the tournament had great significance for the country as 24 teams are entering the final stages of the saga.
French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, requested in the meeting for the rights of the European Championships. He said, “The French state is there. Everything we have said, we do. It’s not the commitment of the Federation or the League, but the commitment of an entire people. All the French expect this event.”
He also said, “If you give us the Euro 2016, you will enjoy it, and you will receive the best possible (competition).”
The French started their presentation with a 10-year-old boy named Nathan. He told what it would mean to his country if they were elected to host the Euro 2016. The boy was followed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy who presented his memoirs from the Euro 1984 tournament and explained how he got inspired by it.
Plans for the l’Hexagone were already in motion and many plans have sprung into action in order to improve several stadiums across France. Now that the venue for Euro 2016 is confirmed, work can start in full motion. It is an interesting fact to note that France has won both the European Championships in 1984 and the World Cup in 1998 when it was being held in their country.
Giancarlo Abete, the President of the FIGC (Italian FA), is responding subtly with mediation to both France and Italy after having a tough competition with them. Despite of the defeat, Abete believes that this was not the defeat for Italian football. He told optimistically that it was a chance for them to improve their flaws while coming up with better infrastructure and stadiums.
In a press conference after the meeting he told journalists about the upcoming plans. He said, “We will continue with tranquillity, in particular with the re-modernisation of stadiums, even without Euro 2016.” In respect to losing the bid he said, “We took on this bid as a challenge, and we have to accept that you lose in sport, even though we are a little annoyed. We have nothing to prove as everyone played their part. We put in everything, but obviously other things prevailed.”
On the other side of the table, UEFA President Michel Platini in a post meeting conference tried to wave of the charges against him by being biased in the vote that brought the French to the top.
Critics blamed Platini in helping the les Bleus just like he became their saviour in the European Championship of 1984. Ironically, Platini has roots in Turkey as well as Italy.
He tried to cover himself from the uneasy situation when he told the media, “It was not an easy situation for me - I am French, my name is Italian and I have many friends in Turkey. But UEFA has proved once again that we have democracy.”
Complementing the French on the victory, Platini remarked, “It was a very narrow decision - the work done by all three federations was outstanding, and I would like to congratulate the French.”
Commenting on the whole fiasco, Platini further added, “It has been a complicated situation from the outset and I believe there is a sigh of relief from French football, and they can now upgrade all their stadia to make them up to the same standard as other countries in Europe.”
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