Eurocup 2008
If there’s one thing Europeans (and just about all the world outside America) love, it’s football (soccer). Unfortunately, I arrived a few months too late in 2006 to experience the excitement of that year’s World Cup. However, this summer has almost made up with the 2008 Eurocup being hosted in Switzerland and Austria. For my fellow Americans, the Eurocup is basically the same as the World Cup but on a smaller (read: European-only) scale. And the Europeans take it just as seriously. Play kicked off on June 7th and concludes on the 29th.
Geneva is one of Switzerland’s host cities (along with Basel, Bern and Zurich) and hosted three games in the first round. Thus, there has been no end of football fervor over the past few months. Several of Geneva’s key monuments have been refitted for the occasion and our town is home to the country’s largest “Fanzone” (basically an off-site viewing center for the games that includes giant screens and sound plus plenty of food and beer).
Thus far, I’ve experienced the tournament in a variety of ways. Traveling through Basel on the day of the first Swiss match, witnessing hordes of orange-clad Dutchmen descending upon Bern while changing trains there, seeing Spain triumph over Sweden at a bar in Barcelona, watching Germany conquer Portugal at the Fanzone, and of course plenty of other matches from the comfort of my own apartment. It’s been an exciting time thus far, even if England didn’t make the tournament and Switzerland didn’t make it through Round 1.
Some photos of the madness:
Swiss fans gather in Basel’s train station on the day of Switzerland’s first match
Giant viewing screen in Basel’s town center
Geneva’s Jet d’Eau (or “big old geyser,” according to Emily Verba) gets outfitted with a giant 200,000+CHF football for the occasion. As if that weren’t enough, the thing popped a few weeks back and they actually returned it to the UK for an 80,000 pound repair…
Geneva’s Flower Clock gets an equally exciting treatment
The host city icon for Geneva
Geneva’s Fanzone at Planpalais
Germany and Portugal duke it out on the big screen
Portion of the massive crowd. There are an inordinate amount of Portuguese people in Geneva (and Switzerland in general) so their fanbase is pretty big here.
Who’ll win the whole thing? It’s been pretty unpredictable so far, but I think undefeated Spain could be a nice surprise champion. Time will tell.
Geneva is one of Switzerland’s host cities (along with Basel, Bern and Zurich) and hosted three games in the first round. Thus, there has been no end of football fervor over the past few months. Several of Geneva’s key monuments have been refitted for the occasion and our town is home to the country’s largest “Fanzone” (basically an off-site viewing center for the games that includes giant screens and sound plus plenty of food and beer).
Thus far, I’ve experienced the tournament in a variety of ways. Traveling through Basel on the day of the first Swiss match, witnessing hordes of orange-clad Dutchmen descending upon Bern while changing trains there, seeing Spain triumph over Sweden at a bar in Barcelona, watching Germany conquer Portugal at the Fanzone, and of course plenty of other matches from the comfort of my own apartment. It’s been an exciting time thus far, even if England didn’t make the tournament and Switzerland didn’t make it through Round 1.
Some photos of the madness:
Swiss fans gather in Basel’s train station on the day of Switzerland’s first match
Giant viewing screen in Basel’s town center
Geneva’s Jet d’Eau (or “big old geyser,” according to Emily Verba) gets outfitted with a giant 200,000+CHF football for the occasion. As if that weren’t enough, the thing popped a few weeks back and they actually returned it to the UK for an 80,000 pound repair…
Geneva’s Flower Clock gets an equally exciting treatment
The host city icon for Geneva
Geneva’s Fanzone at Planpalais
Germany and Portugal duke it out on the big screen
Portion of the massive crowd. There are an inordinate amount of Portuguese people in Geneva (and Switzerland in general) so their fanbase is pretty big here.
Who’ll win the whole thing? It’s been pretty unpredictable so far, but I think undefeated Spain could be a nice surprise champion. Time will tell.
Labels: cultural studies, soccer, things I'll miss
posted by Aaron at 5:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home