Wait, what? There's going to be a European International tournament between the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020? You betcha - and it's just got a lovely lick of paint.
A tournament that adds quite the fixture congestion to an already weighty football calendar, who are we to complain when the branding is oh so delicious. Simple yet striking and designed by Portugal based agency Y&R, it has been designed to symbolise the vibrancy that is held by those 55 teams competing in the competition.
So what exactly is the competition? Well slotted in and starting from September 2018 it follows the World Cup in Russia at pace and will be made up of all 55 teams that belong to UEFA. There's no knock out system and it will be based around a league, separated into four divisions which have been based on the respective ranking of each side. Games will run from September through to November in 2018 over six match days. A finals competition for those teams that win each division will then be planned for June 2019. So yes, in short - there's going to be another International tournament sandwiched between World Cup and European Championship years. Add to that the qualification for the latter mentioned tournaments and a club calendar that won't be getting any shorter and we've got a hella lot of football on our hands folks - even if it does melt the mind decipher when we should be wearing club our country replica shirts.
Thankfully, this handy video has been created to explain it in a nutshell. Kinda.
Back to the branding though and where this tournament is looking most appetising... created by Y&R, it follows on from the work the agency did in creating the art work associated with EURO2020 so they're well placed in producing visuals for such spectacles and with this clean, though life-heavy approach, they've very much delivered.
Bring on all the football. Especially when the delivery is on point.
