The European Nations Championship (Euro 2020) is not without problems outside the football framework, as the Ukrainian team got involved in a problem due to its shirts bearing the slogan “Glory to the Champions”, Azerbaijan refused to grant visas to 3 Russian commentators, and a large percentage of the English fans opposed the kneeling of its players One denouncing racism.

In this report, the Russian newspaper "VZgliad" (VZ) reviews some of the problems of a political or racial nature that accompanied the launch of the "Euro 2020" competitions, and recalled some previous events that remained firmly in the mind throughout the history of the tournament.

ukrainian shirt crisis

The head of the Ukrainian Football Association, Andrei Pavelko, said that his country will continue to appear in the European Championship with shirts specially designed for this event, bearing the words "Glory to the Champions", but the European Football Association (UEFA) confirmed that it did not agree to this step.

According to the newspaper, Pavelko claimed to have reached an agreement on this issue with UEFA.

In his Facebook post, he wrote, "We have proven that (Glory to Ukraine) and (Glory to the Champions) are among the slogans of football in our country."

European soccer governing body UEFA told Ukraine it could keep a map showing Crimea on its new national team soccer shirt despite objects from Russia, but must remove the phrase 'Glory to the heroes' because of to military connotations.

More here: https://t.co/dJC2G4Yjls pic.twitter.com/ZxW0ptaUVK

— Reuters Sports (@ReutersSports) June 10, 2021

But UEFA quickly clarified that its request to remove the political and military slogan "Glory to the Champions" is still valid.

Accordingly, the ban will continue to be imposed and the Ukrainian national team shirts will be taken before each match.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the team's shirt "includes many important symbols that unite Ukrainians", in reference to the shirt carrying a map of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the presence of the image of Crimea on the shirts of the Ukrainian team "is a sign of ignoring the will of the people of the peninsula. The island".

Visa problem

On the other hand, Azerbaijan, one of the 11 countries hosting the tournament, refused the request of Russian sports journalist Noble Arostamyan to attend the matches on its soil.

The refusal came due to an earlier visit by Austamyan to Nagorno-Karabakh, where an armed conflict erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia last year.

Baku did not stop there, and also refused entry to Match TV commentators, Mikhail Musakovsky and Konstantin Genich, because of their previous visits to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2009 and 2014.

England fans refuse to get on one knee

Besides the Ukrainian shirt crisis and the visas of Russian journalists, the newspaper says that the tournament has also seen some political problems on the western side of the continent.

For example, England have on several occasions pledged to get on one knee before matches to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

But the move was not welcomed and accepted by some British fans, and the players' kneeling angered English fans during the friendlies with Austria and Romania before the start of the Euro.

The moment some England fans tried to boo players taking the knee, they were drowned out by a larger section cheering and clapping and applauding pic.twitter.com/Ouqy2GGKZH

— Carl Anka (@Ankaman616) June 13, 2021

UEFA made a special appeal to the fans, which included the following statement: "Any player who wants to advocate equality between people by kneeling will have this right."

For its part, the Scottish national team issued a statement stressing the athletes' condemnation of racism, rejecting the kneeling movement.

According to the newspaper, there are also fears that the Croats will come with a special political agenda, because the previous anti-Serb statements made by the defender of the national team Domagoj are still remembered.

Moreover, Shaqiri and Grant Jaka, who were known for their anti-Serbian behavior at the 2018 World Cup, will be part of the Swiss squad for the European Championship in 2020.

previous accidents

Political analyst Vyacheslav Danilov asserts that the history of the European Championship and the World Cup is full of political and racist scandals, such as the incident of spitting by Dutch player Frank Rijkaard on German Rudi Feller, after he was provoked by his racist statements.

Danilov does not rule out the possibility of problems of a political nature in the current tournament, considering that the fans in the stands utter racist insults as a major threat.

Danilov adds that many players - including Crystal Palace striker Wilfried Zaha - believe that the Black Lives Matter protests are important and that getting on one knee does not really contribute to the fight against racism.

One of the main problems, Danilov sees, is that UEFA officials are not familiar with the political problems and sensitive issues in Eastern Europe.

"No sanctions were imposed against many provocations, including those that took place in the Serbia-Switzerland match in the World Cup in Russia," he says in this context.

And he continues, "Another threat is the occurrence of quarrels between fans of different countries. The European Football Association often turns a blind eye to such behavior, as happened during the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, when the Poles deliberately attacked the fans of the Russian national team," according to his expression.