Euro 2012 Schedule and Friday Night Lights – Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

September 1st, 2010 | by: Daryl |

Euro 2012 qualifying gets underway in a few days, and – if you haven’t noticed already – the scheduling may come as something of a surprise. In a break from tradition, games will no longer follow the familiar Saturday afternoon/Wednesday evening pattern, but will instead be played on Friday and Tuesday evenings. The Tuesday games maybe aren’t so strange because we’re all used to mid-week internationals, but seeing internationals played under Friday night lights is definitely new.

The obvious question: Why? And the inevitable answer: Clubs.

Because the midweek international has the second of the double-header games on a Tuesday instead of Wednesday, it means the clubs get their players back a) one day sooner and b) one day more rested. The downside for international teams is that they now have one less day to prepare for games, and fans who don’t live near the stadium may not be able to make it to the Friday night games after work. Also, there’ll be no football on television over the weekend.

It’s not all bad, obviously. There’s a certain novelty to these Friday games, and if it does mean players are genuinely more rested and clubs do less complaining then good for them. Maybe. UEFA has also shown some flexibility. Israel were not happy to be playing their games on a Friday because it’s the Jewish Shabbat, so Israel will play Malta on Thursday evening instead.

You can see the full Euro 2012 schedule on UEFA’s website. What do you think about the new Friday/Tuesday setup?

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http://vancouver.theoffside.com brentonwalters

Seeing as they never show European internationals on tv here in Canada, it doesn't much matter.
http://bayern.theoffside.com Luke

It probably heightens interest and accessibility in Europe while reducing it in N. America–and I suppose that's the way it should be, for UEFA anyhow.