Euro 2024 was an intense experience for the players. You have the eyes of your entire country on you rather than just the fans of your team. In most cases, they were away from home, away from their families and living in the pockets of their team-mates for (if all went to plan) over a month, with little hope of truly disconnecting from the game.
Advertisement And what’s more, the demands from the media were more intense than ever. There were pre-match interviews, post-match interviews, TV appearances, radio shows, podcasts, YouTube clips and social media platforms from traditional broadcasters, newspapers, websites and whoever else managed to wangle tournament accreditation. The questioning is often relatively respectful but can be pretty brutal and frankly weird.
After Turkey ’s defeat to Portugal , their head coach Vincenzo Montella was asked, in so many words, why his approach had been such a failure. Luciano Spalletti, famously confrontational with the media, was forced to apologise after phoning one journalist in the early hours of the morning to let loose in a fairly spicy fashion about a perceived disrespectful line of questioning. On a lighter note, Manuel Akanji dissolved into fits of giggles after his coach Murat Yakin was asked about his status as a sex symbol .
It’s also interesting to note what players use their appearances in front of the media for. Many will be happy to offer uncontroversial answers and get out of there as quickly as possible, but others .