UEFA launched the Euro 2020 logo earlier this month.
The European championship will be without a single host for the first time in its history.
Instead of just one country hosting all the games, the EURO 2020 will be held across 13 different European cities in the summer of 2020.
Other changes in the tournament include the omission of automatic qualification rule for the hosts. Despite hosting the games, all the 24 sides including the host nations will have to earn their place.
After the success of Euro 2016, which was the first 24-team UEFA European Championship, UEFA have decided to improvise once again and therefore the 13 different cities will host the Euro 2020 finals as UEFA mark the 60th anniversary of the European Championships.
UEFA believe that the single host nation is under tremendous pressure for the hosting of the tournament and therefore hosting it across different countries would relieve some of the burdens.
“Instead of having a party in one country, we will have a party all over Europe in the summer of 2020,” explained then UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino as he introduced the UEFA EURO 2020 concept in 2012.
“2020 is the 60th anniversary of the European Championship. Obviously the fact the EURO will feature 24 teams instead of 16 puts an additional burden on countries to host such an event. It becomes much more difficult for many countries – the requirements are becoming bigger and bigger.”
“An opportunity like this, to give many cities and many countries the possibility to host even just one part of a EURO, is certainly an excellent thing, especially in times when you have an economic situation where you cannot expect countries to invest in facilities in the way such an event requires.”
UEFA 2020 Logo
The new Euro 2020 logo was launched in London earlier this month.
Similar to the Euro 2016 logo, the new one also features a cartoon version of the trophy with a circle around it and a similar font for the ‘Euro 2020’ words.
Changes in the logo include six multi-coloured fans which UEFA describes as a ‘universal symbol of connection’ for the 13 cities.
Each of the host cities will have their own variation of the logo which will include the image of an iconic bridge from their country.
London’s version of the logo included the Tower Bridge.
UEFA 2020 Host Cities
Here are the thirteen cities that will host the European Championships in 2020.
Munich (Germany), Baku (Azerbaijan), Rome (Italy), St Petersburg (Russia), Brussels (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Bucharest (Romania), Glasgow (Scotland), Bilbao (Spain), London (England).
UEFA 2020 Qualification
The Euro 2020 qualifiers will begin from March 2019 and finish in November that year.
According to new rules, 55 sides will be involved in the qualifying process and there will be no automatic qualification for host nations.
After the qualifiers, 20 nations (top two from the ten qualifying groups) will head to the finals of the tournament.
Four more countries will qualify via the new UEFA Nations League, with the play-offs to be played in March 2020.
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