How culture merges with the European Football Championship?

If there is one thing which can make European go crazy in just one night, that's football.

Football, Music and films, without any boundaries, are the three most important culture industries in the whole world. Especially in Europe, football is like the core popular culture symbol for every generation. People get so excited when the games come, like right now, the European Football Championship comes in time.

The UEFA European Championship (known informally as the Euros) is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA), determining the continental champion of Europe.

But how does the Euros permeate cultural elements and union counrties?

Modern football comes from England, since 1863 the Football Association founded till now. After hundreds of years, football has become the most popular sport in Europe with no doubts.

Teams from different countries always carry their own cultural characteristics. For instance, German are famous for tough and tensile, so as rigorous. Their football plays are also like an iron-and-blood Chariot that brings exciting games for all the fans. To compare with Italian football team is more melancholy, conservative but erupting in a sudden, like their eyes contains Renaissance art spirit and disruptive.

On other hand, the football games carry lots of cultural symbols. Germany national football team’s logo combines the national emblem and the national flag. The eagle is a symbol of imperial power, brave and holiness. During each German game, fans will paint the logo on their faces, wear special shirts and bring flags. It is the best time to promote the cultural symbol and spirit to the whole world.

The Euros also drives the travels craze. The 2016 Euros is held in France. According to French media reports, more than 200 million fans from 205 countries have joined the “tickets booking war”. Tourism products about Euros are also the most popular in the market. Travel agencies designed special routes including not just football, but also places of historic interest and cultural sites. Because of the game, more people from different countries will gather and get better understanding of European cultural.

What’s more interesting? Many NGOs provided football camps and events to promote intercultural understanding through sports.

For examples, Street Football World in Berlin, Germany offers projects for secondary school students. Students will act as ambassadors for the UEFA’s nations. Students are assigned to a country team and do project work on their country and take part in numerous Fair Play Football tournaments representing their assigned country team. Three months later, they met children from other nations in a youth camp to practice inter-cultural dialogue. A Fair Play Football tournament, with approximately 500 children from across Europe, concluded the international youth encounter.

There were many surprises this year - Poland, Wales and Island were playing really. Spain, Italy and Germany lost the chance to play in the final. Today we will know who won. What do you think - Portugal or France?

Jenny Shi

 

Photo by Liondartois (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

 

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