The 14th annual UEFA Euro kicked off Friday morning with the first game between Greece and Poland ending in a 1-1 draw.
During the tournament, many Canadians are expected to be drawn out to pubs and bars to support their favourite teams.
“There’s thousands and thousands of soccer fans and I think you’ll see the bars fill up as this tournament progresses,” says Andreas Morse with FC Edmonton.
FC Edmonton is teaming up with businesses in the city to get more soccer fans together for the event.
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“Soccer is a beautiful game, it’s an international game, and we’re not only trying to build support for FC Edmonton, but fans of the beautiful game,” he says.
FC Edmonton is hoping to bolster popularity for soccer in the city, which it says is very much dominated by hockey fans.
“Soccer is such a huge sport and we’re still trying to break out into the market a little bit. Edmonton is a very Oilers dominated market,” FC Edmonton Sponsorship Coordinator Kelsie Myroniuk says.
Director of Operations at the Pint Public House and Sports Bar, Al Gothjelpsen says they plan to show every game and are even opening at 9 am for the early games.
“There’s definitely a lot more soccer fans this year than last year. We’re getting a lot of interest from a lot of young people, a lot more people are playing soccer, enjoying soccer and watching soccer internationally,” he says.
The tournament is being held in Poland and the Ukraine between June 8 and July 1.
One of the biggest soccer championships in the world, the Euro draws huge audiences around the world to see 16 nations compete. Some of the finalists include England, Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain.
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