As usual, presented by and with your questions asked by euronews’ Alex Taylor:

“It’s been tested extensively by scientists over the last 2 years but when it comes down to it, it really is just a piece of plastic which 22 men will be kicking at, around, and between each other from Warsaw to Kiev over the next two weeks. How can football generate so much money, so much national pride, and so many questions from euronews viewers?
Here to answer some of them is the General Secretary of UEFA, Gianni Infantino. Let’s take our first question.”

“Jesper from Norway; Yes, Bahrain is a different case than Ukraine, it’s less important but the situation there is much worse. I’m curious to know why this case of the Ukraine is important when for example Bahrain hosted a Formula 1 race not long ago without any official or politician saying anything at all?”

Alex Taylor:
“Well, I’m not sure that’s not actually true. I interviewed Herman Van Rompoy who talked about Yulia Tymoshenko, but why is politics mixed up in football?”

Gianni Infantino:
“Well, that’s a very good question. What I can say in this respect, for us as UEFA we are the football governing body of Europe so we do not interfere in politics. Now, of course when you have such high-level events like the European football championship this obviously also gives a platform for politicians and political leaders to meet and to discuss about topics that are not related to football. We have to live with that, and it is a matter of fact, and it is an occasion for politicians to discuss. As far as UEFA is concerned, of course we are concentrating on the sport, on the competition.”

Alex Taylor:
“Would it make you change your view if, for example, Angela Merkel has been talking about Ukraine, would that change things?”

Gianni Infantino:
“No, it wouldn’t change things, that doesn’t change things. We have to organise a competition, we don’t have to make politics. It’s the job of Mrs. Merkel to make politics, and of her colleagues in other countries, and of course the Euro championship maybe offers the platform to them to talk about other matters.”

Alex Taylor:
“Next question, please, here on i-talk.”

“Hi, I’m Mats and I live in Brussels. I’ve heard that a ticket for the euro costs 600 euros. Where do all these billions go, because there are an awful lot of seats?

Alex Taylor:
“I’m not sure they all cost 600 euros, but tell us, where does the money go? Somebody’s getting very rich from this.”

Gianni Infantino:
“Well, as you know UEFA is a non-profit organisation and all the money made by UEFA is redistributed for development of football to the national associations. Our accounts are public and are published on our website. Everything that comes in is distributed to our 53 member associations, and of course while you have some big members like England or Germany who could live without UEFA’s contributions you have probably 90% of our member associations who depend really on their UEFA contributions to survive, to organise football in their countries. This is what is done with the revenues, in particular for the European Championship, and it’s true that there are some tickets that cost 600 euros but they are for the final, and there are also 50 euro tickets for the final, too.”

Alex Taylor:
“That’s very reassuring. OK. Another question please.”

“Hello, my name’s Adolpho, I’m originally from Galicia. I don’t know anything about football, but I heard what you said about it being philosophical, and preaching tolerance. When I watch, and it’s not very often, I’m disgusted by the atmosphere. The young people I know who are normally nice, when they get into the football mood they become part of this mass in which I don’t really see any philosophy, tolerance, or respect.”

Alex Taylor:
“I think what he’s talking about is possibly racism and hooliganism. What can you do to eliminate these? Do they exist?

Gianni Infantino:
“Well, we have to lead by example at the start. We have to increase and improve our campaigns for tolerance and respect. It’s something that’s very close to our heart. Football’s about passion and emotion, and sometimes this can lead to scenes that none of us want to see, so it is for this reason the fight against racism and violence is very dear to us and we trying to fight and do our utmost. We have to lead by example, we have to do prevention, we have to inform…”

Alex Taylor:
“But what does that mean? What do you mean by prevention? How can you prevent racism?”

Gianni Infantino:
“Well, you can prevent racism for example by explaining to people who go to a match that a match can be interrupted. We gave the possibility to football referees, to match referees to stop a match in case of racist incidents, and if this happens, and this has happened in certain matches in certain countries already, then there will also be disciplinary consequences, so a fan who is abusive, with racism or violence, he knows that what is probably dearest to him, that is his team, will lose, then, 3-0, and forfeit, and also face additional consequences if something like this happens.”

Alex Taylor:
“OK, another question.”

“I’m Mariano from Italy. When are we going to get the tournament? When will Italy host the Euros?”

Gianni Infantino:
“Of course Italy was the great favourite to get this Euro 2012 tournament at the beginning… So, from one Italian to another…?”

Gianni Infantino:
“Yes, well Italy was of course one of the candidates and was the favourite to get 2012. Eventually the executive committee decided to take a new direction, into Central and Eastern Europe, to new countries. It’s good as well to have some new countries who can organise competitions. We’ll have beautiful stadiums in Poland and Ukraine, which is not yet unfortunately the case in Italy where the stadia need be to drastically and dramatically improved, and when this happens I am sure Italy as a great footballing country will certainly have chances again to bid for future competitions like the European Championship, or Champion’s League final or Europa league final.
By the way, the 2014 Europa league final will take place in Torino which is a very beautiful new stadium built by Juventus.”

Alex Taylor:
“OK, let’s have another question here on euronews about football.”

“Hi, I’m Martin from Estonia. I’m 28. I’d like to ask about the lottery for the Champion’s League Final tickets. I’ve been applying 10 years and never got a ticket. It would be interesting to know what is the policy behind the lottery? Thank you.”

Alex Taylor:
“Can you sort this out? How come? 10 years is a long time…”

Gianni Infantino:
“Yes, it is, but as the name says it’s a lottery, and like in a normal lottery not everyone who plays, even if for their whole life, is winning the jackpot. Of course, winning a ticket is like winning the jackpot. Of course we receive many many requests for finals tickets; for this final we received 250,000 requests for 7000 tickets. As you know the rest of the tickets go to the different teams who have to have the lion’s share for their own supporters. For the Euro for example we received 12 million ticket requests for 1.3 million tickets.
We have a policy at UEFA that all these top-level matches have to be on free TV for everyone. We are organising giant screens as well, for example in Munich in the old Olympic stadium. So we are trying to do our best but for a final like this we would need a million-seat stadium to have everyone who wants to come to attend the final.”

Alex Taylor:
“I have a final question for you. You are better-placed than most to know, so who is going to win?”

Gianni Infantino:
“The Euro? that’s a good question. The best team is going to win. The one that deserves to win…it’s a tricky one. The European Championship is really a top-level competition. Who would have bet a single euro on Greece in 2004? They went on to win, so it is really a top competition. So it is really for the top teams, and the favourites are the usual ones; Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and there are some great outsiders. It’s a great competition and the good thing with the Euro is that really everyone can beat everyone else, so we are all looking forward to a great event, and the best one will win.”

Alex Taylor:
“Thank you very much Mr. Gianni Infantino from UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Well, at least I tried to find out who would win. See you for the next i-talk here from the European parliament in Brussels.”

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