Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
EURO 2016

EURO 2016

The Swedish love and hate affair with English football

England is most Swedes’ second team at Euro 2016, but Roy Hodgson’s men are the team Swedes most want to beat at the tournament, according to a poll from Swedish Radio and Sifo polling institute.

Published: 12 June 2016 16:39 CEST
The Swedish love and hate affair with English football
Swedish players celebrate a goal in the 3-2 defeat to England in Kiev in 2012. Photo: TT

Although the poll finds that most Swedish football fans love English football, and would support England if Sweden was knocked out, of any nation at the championships they also most want to beat England.

“It's fair to say that Swedes have a special relationship with English football. We want their national team to succeed but it's also the team that we want to beat most of all,” Swedish Radio's football expert Richard Henriksson told Radio Sweden.

However, Henriksson doubts that the love is reciprocated. “There is a kind of little brother dynamic at play here,” he said of Swedes’ admiration of English football.

Sweden last met England in a competitive match at the 2012 Euros in Ukraine. England ran out 3-2 winners.

The Swedish team is taking on Republic of Ireland at Paris' Stade de France in their first European championship match tomorrow.

The Swedes also face Belgium and Italy in Group E.

EURO 2016

Euro 2016 gave France billion euro boost to struggling economy

Hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament cost France less than €200 million ($211 million) but brought some €1.22 billion into the country, according to figures released by the ministry of sports Tuesday.

Published: 10 January 2017 08:31 CET
Euro 2016 gave France billion euro boost to struggling economy
Photo:AFP

There was controversy over the public funds poured into the tournament, with some 24 million euros — double the expected cost — spent on security in light of an increased terrorist threat.

The state spent a further 160 million euros on building and renovating venues for the June and July event, while private funds and tournament organiser UEFA covered the remaining costs.

But Euro 2016 brought 1.221 billion euros into the country both in tourism and spending directly related to the organisation of the tournament, according to data compiled by the Centre of the Law and Economics of Sport at Limoges University (CDES) and the consultancy firm Keneo.

In calculating the figures, researchers took into account the loss from potential tourists who would have stayed away from France to avoid the tournament, as well as the state funds which could have been used elsewhere had they not been set aside for venues.

The average tournament visitor spent 154 euros a day, with most of that going on accommodation and eating out, the study said, with tourism providing a 625.8 million euro boost to the country.

UEFA spent some 360 million euros on organising the tournament in the country, while 24 participating teams gave the economy a 34.9 million euro boost.

Accredited persons for the event spent 34.8 million euros while in the country, and sponsors 22.6 million euros, according to the figures.

Last January the CDES predicted Euro 2017 would bring in 1.266 billion euros in additional expenditure, or 0.1 percent of France's GDP.

SHOW COMMENTS