Euro 2020: UEFA asks Ukraine to remove slogan from jersey
Jun 11, 2021
New Delhi [India], June 11 : Hours before the start of the 2020 edition of the European Championship, UEFA has asked Ukraine to remove the slogan 'Glory to Our Heroes' from their football jersey after the Russian Football Union complained against the same. The Ukrainians aren't too pleased and have opposed the ruling.
"This specific combination of the two slogans is deemed to be clearly political in nature, having historic and militaristic significance. This specific slogan on the inside of the shirt must therefore be removed for use in UEFA competition matches," UEFA said in a statement to Euronews.
The tournament marks the return of top-flight international football. The top 24 nations in Europe will battle it out to earn the ultimate glory with Italy and Turkey battling it out in the opener. This edition will be the 16th in the tournament's history. Euro 2020 was slated to be held last year, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now it will be played from June 11-July 11.
There is a new model which is in place for this year's Euro and the tournament will be played in 11 cities across 11 UEFA countries. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be making its debut in the European Championship this time around.
24 teams have been divided across six groups and Group H comprises of France, Germany, Portugal and Hungary and is being labelled as the 'Group of Death'.
France who are the defending champions of the 2018 FIFA World Cup are being seen as the tournament favourites and rightly so. The side boasts of highly talented individuals like Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema. Benzema after sitting on the sidelines for many years has finally returned to the national squad and it would be interesting to see how manager Didier Deschamps utilises his talent.
N'Golo Kante has been the flavour of the town off late and he single-handedly managed to help Chelsea win the Champions League. Many pundits believe that Kante will win the Ballon d'Or if he manages to help France win the Euro Cup. France had finished as the runners-up in Euro 2016 and they had lost the summit clash against Portugal. So it is fitting that both these sides are placed in the same group in Euro 2020.
Another big favourite to win this year's competition is England. Off late, the side has been surrounded by controversy as the Three Lions are being booed by some section of the fans as they continue to take the knee to show support towards the Black Lives Matter movement. However, talking about football action, the side comprises of talented individuals like Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane, Jordon Henderson and Reece James.
