And That Is How Euros Are Made, Children

February 11th, 2012 | by: elaine | Comments Off

To wrap up “The Euros Are Four Months Away And I Can’t Wait Week,” I thought I would figure out where Euros come from. For a tournament that is so important they named the currency of an entire continent after it, I felt I should know more about its origins.

It all began in 1927 when Henri Dalaunay fell in love with his idea to stage a European Tournament. Together with the now legendary Hugo Meisl, a proposal was submitted to FIFA for a tournament to run concurrently with the World Cup.

But his idea remained impotent until UEFA was formed. In 1954, Delauney expressed his love for a European Cup in a letter which defined the research already done by a three member committee and included the specifics of how it could work. The French press, especially L’Equipe, also fell deeply in love and advocated its love wholeheartedly.

When two entities love each other very, very much, there is a special bond that forms. Despite the fact that Delaunay died in 1955, before seeing his beautiful love child born, the support from the French Press and the guidance of his son, Pierre Delaunay saw the birth of this tournament in 1960. They named the baby the European Nations’ Cup, although it was also known as the Henri Delaunay Cup after its papa.

The inaugural tournament saw knockout stages played over 2 years’ time amongst only 17 nations, with the finals consisting of only four teams. The victors of this tournament were the USSR, who beat Hungary for the title.

In 1968, the tournament was growing up quickly, and so it was natural that certain changes should occur. Knockout preliminaries were abandoned for the modern qualifying rounds, and the tournament was renamed the UEFA European Championship, as it is still known today. This coming of age of the tournament led to the beautiful summer of love when Italy won its first and only Euro Championship, which it also hosted that year.

The finals were expanded in 1980 to eight teams instead of four as previously. In 1996, this was expanded to include 16 teams in the finals. There were also 48 teams taking part in the qualifiers.

Today’s Euros are an elite tournament, second only to the World Cup, and for some, perhaps even more elite. Athletes aspire to be able to reach the finals and nations seek to be able to raise the cup. And to think the giant powerhouse of a tournament began with the love that just one Frenchman had for his dream. And that is how Euros are made, children.

(If you have any questions, go ask your father.)

Elaine is on Twitter where she makes the occasional appearance and also avoids the tough questions. @ItalyWCB