by Ignacio Chazarreta
The Copa America and The UEFA European Championship, are known for being some of the biggest and most prestigious soccer tournaments. With over 80+ matches, fans spend their entire day watching matches, which becomes a big problem for most. So which tournament should you be watching Copa or Euro? Well, the better one.
Both tournaments are very prestigious in their own right, but one is more entertaining than the other. So the first thing we can look at is the actual level of the competition. In Copa America, there are top teams from North and South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay.
The Euro’s, however, far exceed this by having teams like England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and many others that most would argue exceed the average American teams.
This is not only shown at the team level but in the players level as well with Copa having 42 players playing in the Premier League (considered to be the best club league), and Euro having 104 players according to the Premier League. This makes the Euro a higher level of football, despite Copa having some higher-level teams like Brazil and Argentina.
However, does this make it more entertaining? Many would argue that Copa’s rougher play style along with more conflicts happening off the field make it better. Many countries in South America are noted specifically for their rougher play style like Uruguay, and also along with their fans who had conflicts in the stands.
The Euro also lacks in its group stage, in which two-thirds of the teams make it through compared to the Copa which cuts half of the teams out after the group stage. This not only makes the Copa matches more challenging but also makes every team fight for every match, even if they have a guaranteed spot for the next round.
On the other hand, the Euro has more playoff-style matches and also had a dramatic quantity of last-minute goals with 10 being scored in the group stage alone according to Reuters News.
The Euro's high-level teams also make the winner less predictable, with up to 8 teams being realistic candidates for winning the tournament. This not only creates high-level matchups but makes winning the tournament much more prestigious than winning the Copa.
With all this, it is clear that the Euro is the better tournament overall in competition, level, and even in organization. During this year's Copa there was a severe lack of organization in security, field quality, and other problems. This makes Euro the better tournament, however, the biggest factor in deciding for yourself is supporting your nation.
So when you turn on the TV, whether it be for Copa or Euro, make sure to support your team until the very end.
Euro Cup Final Results
Spain defeated England 2-1.
Copa America Final Results
Argentina defeated Colombia 1-0.
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