England promises biggest and best

A GOLDEN AGE dawns? Blithely, and prematurely, some have been saying this about the English Premiership. However, England could be about to host something very special indeed - the biggest and the best European Championships ever.

Rarely, if ever, can there have been so many good teams across Europe at one time. After all seven European sides reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup two summers ago - an unprecedented European performance in finals staged outside the continent.

True, none were good enough to beat Brazil, fuelling suspicions that there is an absence of one great side. Now, however, is the time for that great side to emerge, one to rival the brilliant Gunther Netzer-inspired German champions of 1972, who secured 10 points out of 12 when qualifying, trounced England 3-1 at Wembley in the quarter-finals and beat the USSR 3-0 in the most one-sided European final ever.

Or one to rival the Michel Platini-inspired French side of 1984, which won on home soil with a great deal of panache and style and was built on the foundations provided by their famed midfield quartet - Giresse, Tigana, Platini and Fernandez.

The hope is that something comparable will emerge by the night of June 30th. It is worth noting, though, that France would not have won the '84 finals had UEFA's flawed and regrettable introduction of sudden death in extra-time, whereby the first goal scored wins the tie, applied then.

Instead, France would have gone out in the semi-finals to an under-rated Portuguese side. Europe would have been denied the epic comeback which saw France score twice in the final five minutes of extra-time to overturn a 2-1 deficit.

Quite why UEFA saw fit to implement sudden death is anybody's guess. After all, a set period of 30 minutes extra-time, with the provision of penalties, obliges modest restructuring of TV schedules. An allowance of a full 30 minutes of extra-time generally ensures a fairer outcome. But that seems to be the least of UEFA's concerns.

Given the way Europe's governing body mishandled the Bosnian affair and betrayed the underlining principles of the European Cup at club level - effectively making it into an elitist Eurovision Cup - heaven knows what they will do to these finals in future years.

As it is, though, UEFA must be well pleased with the final lineup. There are a few significant absentees: Sweden, Belgium, Norway and er, ahem, the Republic of Ireland. Nonetheless, all the previous winners have qualified - Germany (1972 and '80), Denmark ('92), Holland ('88), France ('84), the Czech Republic ('76), Italy ('68), Spain ('64) and Russia (then the Soviet Union, in '60).

Despite a prize fund of £47 million (£5.64 million goes to the winners), and the predicted costs of £18 million for staging the event (expenses the English FA will foot, thereby leaving the host association with a modest profit of £1.5 million), it is expected that the European governing body will make up to £50 million from the 23-day event.

World-wide television rights (the event will be transmitted to 194 countries, more than the World Cup finals) and sponsorship, worth £70 million, will be shared with 10 per cent going to the English FA and 90 per cent to UEFA. An estimated 1.5 million fans will generate ticket revenue of £50 million at the eight designated venues.

As ever, the event will be about players first and foremost. New stars will be born, and some celebrated names will be carved in stone. Despite widespread misgivings over FIFA's directives to referees at US '94 regarding the professional foul and tackles from behind, there's no doubt that they have removed some of the cynicism from the game.

Those changes, combined with the modifications of the backpass law, the offside law and the production of lighter balls, have tipped the balance back towards attack-minded, creative players. The playmaker, the number 10 orchestrator, is back in vogue. Even Jack Charlton acknowledged that towards the end of his reign.

Hristo Stoichkov, Gheorge Hagi, Alessandro Del Pierro, Gianfranco Zola, Rui Costa, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrik Berger the Laudrups, Robert Prosinecki, Paul Gascoigne, Gary McAllister, Ciraco Sforza - Euro '96 should be their stage.

A batch of strikers - Jurgen Klinsmann, Patrick Kluivert, Davor Suker, Stephane Chapuisat, Alan Shearer, Emil Kostadinov, Fabrizio Ravenelli, Domingos, Florin Radicioiu, Sergeio Kiriakov, Zinedine Zidane and Youri Djorkaeff - should also get ample opportunity to enhance their reputations.

With so much talent and so many good sides on show, it's a wonder how the European finals were confined to eight sides in previous tournaments. Indeed as many as 12 of the finalists will nurture hopes of winning the final on June 30th.

The expansion to 16 finalists - the two teams that get to the final will play six games instead of five - should assist established powers such as Germany and Italy. The Germans have reached a record 10 finals in the World Cup and European Championships, and though Arrigo Sacchi's tactically-rigid Italians have a relatively modest record in this tournament, fortuitously winning the title on home soil in 1968, they too, are tactical masters in longer tournaments.

Russia, bearing in mind the four finals and semi-final which the Soviet Union reached fall into this category, too, and as Irish fans saw this year, they are a class act. Group C contains all three of them, and should tell quite a tale.

The Danes proved four years ago that the less established powers are less inclined to get stage fright against the major powers in the European finals.

Had the tournament been at the end of last year, then Holland would justifiably have been favourites, but these finals were always likely to come at the wrong time for some of the jaded Ajax team. Similarly arduous club campaigns are likely to take their toll on the two British entrants.

Largely devoid of household names, a young French side is perhaps the best value bet and will be just as fiercely motivated as the Germans to make up for recent disappointments.

Another epic confrontation between those old adversaries would be a fitting finale. Whatever, Europe awaits a great tournament and the emergence of at least one great team. A Golden Age may indeed be dawning.