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Jakarta Post

Let’s play the game

The French Open can be considered a success. Hopes abound that the 2020 UEFA European Championship will follow suit.

Editorial board (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, June 19, 2021

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Let’s play the game Czech Republic forward Patrik Schick celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA EURO 2020 Group D football match between Scotland and the Czech Republic at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, the United Kingdom, on June 14. (AFP/LEE SMITH )

E

urope and the rest of the world have good reason to rejoice after the 2020 UEFA European Championship finally kicked off a year after it was postponed because of COVID-19, with crowds allowed back into stadiums, albeit at a minimum to prevent the spread of the virus.

Across the ocean, virus-ravaged Brazil is hesitantly hosting the Copa America in empty stadiums but has found it is barely prepared for such a big tournament under such unusual circumstances. After only two days, at least 66 players, officials and staffers have contracted the virus, media reports say.

The quadrennial European soccer feast is taking place in 11 nations. They all have to follow strict safety standards to ensure the competition does not pave the way for a new wave of virus transmission.  

Let alone welcoming back crowds, the decision to allow the games to take place was already a clear testament to the continent’s confidence it could deal with the pandemic. The coming weeks will prove whether the UEFA – the European soccer governing body – and Europe as a whole are right.

Europe has set the gold standard of organizing a sports tournament during the pandemic, which once wreaked havoc the continent. National soccer leagues and the continental club competitions, the Champions League and the Europa League, went on largely untroubled from day one until the winners lifted the trophies.

Prior to Euro 2020, the French Open, one of the four majors in professional tennis, indulged sports enthusiasts with high-quality matches featuring top-notch players. Organizers limited the crowds to 1,000 per day, but it was enough to keep the tournament’s pride intact.

The French Open can be considered a success, and hopes abound that Euro 2020 will follow suit, particularly because the players, the coaching staff and their whole teams are accustomed to the strict safety rules. The only problem rests with the crowds, but it seems the UEFA knows how to handle them, including by enforcing stringent health protocols at all stadiums.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has predicted about that half a million spectators will flock to the stadiums, which will accommodate at most half of their capacity. Certain cohosts will restrict occupancy further, like Munich, which will only use 22 percent of stadium capacity. Wembley London, where the final will be held, will limit occupancy to 25 percent of capacity.

A Euro 2020 without COVID-19 hassles will certainly inspire organizers of other major events, including Tokyo, which will host the Olympic Games next month, to do their best to ensure that the show can go on safely.

To a certain extent, sports arenas serve as proving grounds for humanity’s capability of rising to any challenge and finding ways to adjust to changing environments. The current pandemic will continue to test our resilience now that new variants of coronavirus have caused spikes in infection in many countries.

Like a soccer match, the pandemic may force us to play overtime and may have a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. It will take a long time and require a Herculean effort, but we have no choice but to play on and win the game.

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