EURO 2020, a tournament like no other: Q&A with Martin Kallen Tuesday 8 June 2021
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UEFA Events SA CEO Martin Kallen, a veteran of five EURO tournaments, reflects on his toughest ever challenge – staging the world’s biggest sporting event to take place since the start of the pandemic.
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Even before a ball is kicked, UEFA EURO 2020 is already a major international tournament unlike any before.
Whether it is staging matches across 11 different venues, postponing the event due to a global pandemic or adapting regulations to protect the players and welcome fans back into stadiums, this European Championship will live long in the memory.
Speaking after the friendly game, he said: “I think it was the right decision. I approached [the Football Association of Ireland’s international operations manager] Barry Gleeson and said it was something we wanted to do, take the knee, and I think it’s a very important message.
“The fact it was booed is incomprehensible, really, and it must be damaging for Hungary, with the Euros in Hungary. It’s disappointing and it doesn’t reflect well on Hungary, really, on Hungarian support. It doesn’t reflect well.
“Our players wanted to do it. It’s important. It’s an important stance and I commend them for taking that stance.”
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Letters
Turkish fascism
I think comrade Conrad’s article on fascism fails to achieve all the sixfold intention he states (‘Misusing the F-word’, May 27). He’s certainly right to insist upon clear and historically rooted definitions and also on his remarks against broadening the scope of the term in an inflationary and only pejorative manner. However, he bends the stick too much on to the other side.
The main problem is that he’s too stuck in history and the ‘classical’ cases of fascism, to the extent that this leads him to ignore the obvious fascistic sides of current phenomena he investigates. He intends to evaluate it globally, but only touches on his own native British case. He seems to be right to assume that fascism is not a current threat in the UK. I’ll leave aside the internal strategic debates of the country’s leftist organisations and continue on Conrad’s passing remarks about Turkish leftists’ evaluations of the nature of Turkish regime.