The highlight of the new year will take place in Switzerland: This summer, 16 nations will compete for the European Championship trophy. A tournament that should and must set new standards, because UEFA’s goals are ambitious.
uefa has ambitious goals: medium and long term
The European football association wants to establish football as the most sustainable and investable women’s sport by 2030. A sport in which 5,000 full-time professionals are to play in 6 professional leagues over the next 5 years. These key figures emerge from a UEFA media briefing on the occasion of the group draw.
However, Keßler and Co. not only have long-term goals, but also short-term ones: EURO 2025 is expected to set a new ticket record and record numbers are also expected in front of the television sets: UEFA is calculating with 500,000,000 live viewers. An ambitious but realistic target (374 million in 2022, 178 million in 2017).
EURO 2025: Record-breaking tournament?
What makes UEFA director Nadine Keßler so optimistic?
In an interview with ZDF, the former German national player reveals details about advance ticket sales, which indicate a high level of interest: UEFA has received ticket orders from a total of 90 countries, five of which are from the USA, a country that logically has no representative for the EUROs and supports from Australia will also be travelling to Switzerland. Keßler raves about the biggest sporting event that Switzerland has ever organised.
And this hype is reflected in other areas. So far, six sponsors have been announced for the European Championships: Axa, Booking.com, Unilever, swisscom, Miele and Wiesenhof. Sponsorship income has more than doubled and income from media rights has also almost reached this factor compared to the 2022 tournament.
UEFA’s volunteer programme is also going well.More than 7,500 volunteers have already signed up to support the fans in the stadiums and at the fan festivals at the venues.
As you can see, the signs are good for a successful EURO. For UEFA, however, the tournament in Switzerland is only the first step towards a rosy future.
Photo: Imago