ISSUE 1: June 2016 2 CONTENTS P4 FOREWORD By Jed Woodcock THE HISTORY P5 OF THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS By Jack Rodway P8 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION, By Matt Cowdock P13 GROUP A PREVIEWS France, Albania, Romania & Switzerland P16 GROUP B PREVIEWS England, Wales, Slovakia & Russia P20 GROUP C PREVIEWS Germany, Northern Ireland, Poland & Ukraine P23 GROUP D PREVIEWS Turkey, Czech Republic, Croatia & Spain P26 The The consequences of failure: England and the media GROUP E PREVIEWS Ireland, Belgium, Sweden & Italy P29 GROUP F PREVIEWS Portugal, Iceland, Austria & Hungary Phases of Play: Group Stage SCOTLAND’S REDEMPTION P32 Euro Euro 2012 Rewind Le Le DesTour Stades ON THE HORIZON Badge ofthe Week By Ben Delaney KOSOVO’S P34 HISTORIC by John Warrington by John (P10) by Jude Macdonald (P35)Judeby Macdonald MOMENT by Jed Woodcock (P39)WoodcockJed by by Jed Woodcock (P12) byWoodcock Jed by Oliverby (P38) Marsh By Ross Highfield ALSO IN ISSUE:THIS P36 WHEN GREECE WAS THE WORD By John Warrington 3 FOREWORD LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER As football fans, we are spoilt rotten. It’s everywhere. Blogs, TV shows, podcasts, magazines, newspaper articles, you name it, there are thousands based solely on the beautiful game. www.boxtoboxfootball.uk I was drawn into the obsessive game in the 2002 World Cup. Living in Turkey at the [email protected] time, the national team’s heroic underdog performances, on their way to the Semi facebook.com/boxtoboxfootball.uk Finals and a 3rd Placed finish captivated my interest. THE TEAM I lived in a replica Umit Davala kit for the next six years, reliving Turkey’s perfor- mances in every football I kicked and every time I played. FOUNDER & CEO My obsession then turned unhealthy after getting Championship Manager Jed Woodcock 03/04 as a Christmas present from my Arsenal obsessed Dad. I played the game CO-FOUNDERS religiously over the next 12 seasons, spending countless hours and days glued to the game. Oliver Marsh, Joe Proctor & Amber Marsh In 2012 I took the obsession further by starting a 6-a-side team at University, which then transformed into a near ill-fated 11-a-side team, Ivory Toast. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Box To Box Football was born from this football obsession in January of this year Amber Marsh and with the help of other like-minded writers, I aim to provide an honest inde- EDITORS pendent voice for football supporters, giving the Football Supporter’s Eye View with contributors writing for the love of the game, offering both serious and hu- Joe Proctor, Oliver Marsh, morous views of the sport. Jed Woodcock, Michael Oddie, Krishna Raghvani, Dan Eales & Alex After founding Box To Box Football in January, with the help of countless talented Roberts contributors we have managed to get together Issue 1 of Box To Box Football Mag- azine, transferring our predominantly web-based articles to print. The last few CONTRIBUTORS weeks have been challenging to say the least, but it’s worth it. Jed Woodcock, Jack Rodway, We are unashamedly obsessed with this sport, and hope that our articles reflect Matt Cowdock, Scott Brotherton, that. Dean Laughton, Joe Proctor, Oliver Marsh, Rhys Owen-Johnson, My words of thanks must be incomplete so that they are not a thousand lines long. Michael Cox, Felix Tasker, First and foremost, I want to thank my amazing girlfriend Amber Marsh, not only Amber Marsh, James Foggin, Ben Delaney, David Cambridge, for supporting me from the beginning, but helping me develop and transform the Othman Al-Kooheji, project into what it is today. I also want to thank Amber for jumping into the pro- Ronan Mahony, Rob Flannery, ject and writing multiple articles about football – something she thought she’d Nima Safai, Manfredi Miyashita, never do, along with drawing portraits and helping design the magazine. Francisco Cardoso Pinto, I would also like to thank Joe Proctor for thinking of the name, constantly provid- Aidan Slinn, Jude Macdonald, ing honest feedback to my myriad of questions and editing endlessly. John Warrington & Ross Highfield Thirdly, I would like to thank fellow Spurs’ fan Oliver Marsh for his continual stream PUBLISHERS of captivating articles, who has at times kept the website going on his own. Peecho: Amsterdam, Netherlands Lastly I would like to thank the huge team of talented contributors and editors who © Box To Box Football Ltd 2016 The are based all around the UK and even dotted around Europe. Without them Box To views expressed are those of the indi- Box would not be a reality. vidual contributors. Could any unacknowledged copyright holders Jed Woodcock BSc please get in contact. 4 HISTORY OF THE EUROS The history of the European Championships By Jack Rodway notable absentees including; England, ing the Yugoslav’s would turn defeat into West Germany and Italy. The first finals victory, scoring three goals in a stunning So here we go, one month of non were held in 1960 in France -the host four minute burst. Winning the game 5-4 nation was determined after the qualify- – the highest scoring game in the com- -stop football, as Europe’s elite ing stage. The format for the qualifying petition’s history. meet in France for a celebration stage followed the blueprint of the Euro- The final would need extra time to sepa- pean Cup, where both nations played of the beautiful game. The Euro- rate the two teams, with Viktor Poned- each other home and away. pean Championships is one of elnik scoring the winner in a 2-1 win for the world’s most popular sport- Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Soviet Union. Legendary goalkeeper ing events, but this was not al- qualifying, would be the boycott of Spain Lev Yashin would finally receive a richly when drawn against the Soviet Union. deserved major international winner’s ways the case. When Henri De- The Spaniards were amongst the favour- medal. launay, Secretary of the French ites to win the competition, a side boast- The 1964 tournament, held in Spain, ing the talents of; Alfredo Di Stefano, Luis Football Federation, first put would continue the same format, with Suarez and Paco Gento. Sadly however forward the idea for a pan Euro- the Soviet Union, Denmark, Hungary and this gifted group would not get the op- Spain making the final four. This would pean games in 1927 he was una- portunity to compete in France. ble to harness any meaningful see Franco begrudgingly welcome the Since the end of the Spanish Civil War Soviet Union. Thankfully, there would be support for the venture. diplomatic ties between the two nations no repeat of boycotting when the two Eventually, Henri Delaunay got his wish had been non-existent, Spain’s dictator teams met in the final. Luckily for Franco as he went on to become the first Gen- General Francisco Franco detested eve- a late winner from Marcelino would see eral Secretary of UEFA. However, his rything to do with the Communist State. death in November 1955 meant the The Soviet Union was the only major Frenchman would not be able to see his country to officially support Franco’s op- hard work through to fruition. Replaced ponents. Franco refused to allow a team by his son Pierre Delaunay, Pierre contin- representing his nation enter Moscow, ued his father’s dream and in 1957 under thus pulling Spain out of the competi- the name of the UEFA European Nations tion. Cup, Europe would have its first compet- Only four teams would qualify – the Sovi- itive continental tournament. The trophy et Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and would be named after Henri Delaunay, France. In the semi-finals the Soviets Above: The first logo which was used for the simply known as – ‘The Henri Delaunay comfortably saw off Czechoslovakia 3-0. European Championships in 1960 Further Above: Lev Yashin, the Black Spider, Cup’. The other tie would be far from straight- was the Soviet Union’s star goalkeeper during The qualifying stages began in 1958, with forward with Yugoslavia trailing the the first European Championships French 4-2…but with 15 minutes remain- 5 HISTORY OF THE EUROS the Spaniards win their first international ee Clive Thomas, who sent off Johan membered for one thing. That Marco van competition. Imagine Franco seeing the Neeskens and Win van Hanegem. Hol- Basten volley. This talented Dutch side Soviets lift the trophy in his beloved Ma- land’s total football was put on hold for triumphed where the team of the 70’s drid. A potential diplomatic disaster had the time being. had failed – by winning their first major been averted. tournament. Holland met the Soviet Un- Czechoslovakia would meet Germany in ion in the final – this would be the Soviets The host nation would again be victori- the final, after they beat the Yugoslavs last European Championship as the Un- ous in the 1968 tournament. With Italy 4-2 in the other semi-final. The Czecho- ion would break-up in 1991. A Ruud Gullit winning this time around, beating Yugo- slovakians looked set for victory until header was followed by a historic goal slavia 2-0 in a replay. It was at this point Bernd Holzenbein equalised for the Ger- from Van Basten, a goal of stunning tech- that the competition changed its name mans in the last minute of normal time to nique and execution. The game finished to the European Championship and make it 2-2. The competitions first penal- 2-0 to the Dutch. would be the first tournament for which ty shootout was to follow after a score- England qualified. The English finished less extra time.