Once again we ask… is football coming home?
Euro 2024 sees England take a strong squad to Germany, and that pre-tournament optimism is back once more
The sun is back shining in the UK (for how long, only the heavens know), and sports fans have eyes on a major European tournament. England reached their first-ever final in the last European Championships, losing on penalties to Italy. After a quarter-final exit at the 2023 World Cup, attention now turns to Germany.
Fans now know the 26 players Gareth Southgate will take to Euro 2024, and there is plenty of quality. A week from the opening game, which will be against Serbia on June 16 in Gelsenkirchen. The usual pre-tournament optimism is building, as is the misconception from opposition fans about England supporters’ arrogance.
‘Football’s Coming Home’ has been sung in the classic Skinner and Baddiel song for decades, but nothing about the track is about fans expecting to win tournaments. It sums up an English attitude of being able to have a bit of a laugh at our own expense- and needless to say it has been pumped through playlists up and down the land.
A summer football tournament is brilliant, and Euro 2024 is the first proper summer tournament in six years. Euro 2020 was hindered by Covid-19 restrictions, and the 2023 World Cup took place in the winter.
With this in mind, the idea of watching football in a beer garden with your shorts on will hopefully once again become a reality for fans this summer. A good summer tournament is great, and keeping tabs on all of what’s going on at a tournament can keep fans engaged for weeks.
A football tournament brings with it a child-like excitement for many. The first tournament I fully remember is the 2006 World Cup, which was also held in Germany. The thrill of watching multiple games a day and then going outside to play football with friends in between matches was fantastic, and something generational.
The time to be able to watch matches and then go and play football straight after may have gone, but the buzz of following a summer tournament hasn’t. At no other time in the footballing calendar would you be excited to watch Georgia v Czech Republic at 2 pm on a Saturday, but this goes out the window when tournament season hits.
England probably won’t win this tournament, although there is a genuine belief that they could. Yet it’s the fun of the tournament build-up, watching competitive international matches at random times on a weekday, and cheering on a random footballing nation because, by the grace of God, you’ve drawn them in the work sweepstake, that makes summer tournament football one of the best months of the year.
A love of football is what has me counting down the days until Euro 2024 kicks off. Germany against Scotland is the first of 51 matches taking place across 10 German cities. From Hamburg to Munich and Berlin across to Cologne, a fest of football kicks off on June 14 and any one of the 24 nations will land in Deutschland with the same childlike optimism many of their fans will have
