We've all seen the Horrors of Heysell; and British fans being effectively persecuted by batallions of Italian police officers in Rome and Milan alike. Atrocities in Turkey and chaos in Greece haunting the prouder moments of British club success. Moreover we cannot deny the madness at Eastlands in 2008 and at no point do I intend to pick fault with individual countries or club.
1) Neutrality of Venue.
A common theme of European finals has been hostile hosts to hostile neighbours. Rightly or wrongly it is common knowledge that English football fans are victimised by Italian police in national and club meetings. This has been an issue even since the horrors Liverpool fans were subjected to in Rome 78.
Furthermore by circulating the major venues of Europe the top echelons of the the three super footballing leagues England, Spain and Italy are destined to crop up with high frequency meaning at any given time local footballing firms from the host city are greeted with the chance to make their presence felt to their European rivals. Should the final be played in Madrid between Barcelona and Milan for example a three maybe four pronged battle is always likely to take place on nationalistic and regional levels.
The answer is simple given the climate of football today. There are certain nations in Europe which excluding a minor miracle will never again produce a serious potential European finalist such as Switzerland, Austria or any Scandanavian country. These countries would be ideal for the Stadium of Europe as it would exclude realistic possiblity of the host venue being the home ground of a finalist club and also denies the meeting of clubs from all three super-league nations.
2) Policing
Policing would become easier and simply be easier given central planning from a Stadium of European committee and methods of policing would become clear during trial runs of the stadium and clear strategies could be outlined to address the issue of two massively supported clubs gracing the Stadium.
Also the neutrality of policing would prevent the carnage that ensues time and time again when for example British fans meet Italian police, which for many has become a matter of principal and a historical conflict, rather than a fight being fought on current situations.
3) Capacity
Many stadiums are venued despite the fact they are really incapable of hosting a large enough allocation for two massively supported clubs. It is because of this situations arise such as Athens 2007 whereby fans of the same club become rivals for tickets to the same game. By utilising space and location factors UEFA could invest in a stadium large enough to accommodate large amounts of football fans from Europe's most well supported clubs.
4) Economy
Simply put, such a project would be a provider of much needed jobs in whichever economy it would effect. Not only would mass-construction be provided for but the multiplier effect of trade in the local area and security jobs would be a boost for the surrounding settlements.
5) Comfort
I know real football fans who had hoped for the day they would attend a European final involving their team only to be confronted with a hostile location which put them off attending or at least made the experience hellacious rather than enjoyable. Geographical issues must be addressed as well. For the last five years at least now the European Cup finalists have been from England, Spain and Italy. And before that anomalies have only included Holland, Portugal and France; with Russia being the obvious exception. But in 2008 Russian teams coming to England and English teams going to Russia; could have been easily solved by this proposal.
Those who want to throw tradition in the way of this solution go ahead. The tradition of exclusive stadiums holding these excuslive events. So be it if this tradition did not cause theft, pain, chaos and death. The Stadium of Europe. Make it happen.
