Graham Ruthven

More football on television is a good thing, right? After all, that’s why we all subscribe to every sports channel our military-grade satellite dishes can pick up a signal to. Sure, we can watch every single game played all across Europe, but what about Chinese Super League games? Oh, you broadcast those as well? How about coverage of the Argentinean Primera B Metropolitana? You only have highlights? Not good enough.

So when UEFA announced their new Week of Football in a flurry of tickertape and bombastic ceremony two years ago they probably thought they were all doing us all a favour. After all, this would mean stretching out international week, allowing us to cast our tellygoggles on more matches than ever before. Cancel that gym subscription, move your fridge closer to your sofa because you’re going to be sitting on it for an entire week watching international football.

In theory, it’s not the worst concept ever imagined. In the United Kingdom in particular, England often hog the headlines and spotlight for themselves, with the rest of the Home Nations consigned to the backwaters of the international game. Now each country is afforded a night of their own. Like how they have different nights at Weatherspoons. Tuesday is Steak Club night and next week it will be Northern Ireland’s night as they take on Croatia.

But by stretching out qualification fixtures over seven days rather than just a couple UEFA is robbing the international game of something it badly needs - structure and tradition. The 3pm kick off on a Saturday is something treasured by the club game, but there’s something especially sacred about it when it comes to international football. UEFA doesn’t care one bit about that, though.

The very essence of international games dictates that they should be considered special, something outside the norm. It’s why club football takes a break whenever they are scheduled for, so that nothing can detract from the glorious spectacle that is the international game. Yet there’s nothing glorious about a half-empty stadium on a Tuesday night in November. Nothing at all.

That’s what UEFA are getting, though by insisting on their precious Week of Football, asking fans to buy tickets for games that for the average Joe among us are far more difficult to get to. As if it wasn’t obvious enough already where the organisation’s priorities lie, this concept only underlines how they value armchair fans over those who actually go to the match. Why? Because that’s where the most money is.

The Premier League can get away with playing games on Friday and Monday nights because the clubs who contest them are only asked to do so a handful of times a season. Even then, managers and fans alike complain about being put as a disadvantage. They can at least console themselves in the knowledge that it doesn’t happen very often. International fans aren’t afforded the same compassion. Friday and Monday night games are the rule rather than the exception.

Of course, UEFA aren’t stopping at implementing the Week of Football in its efforts to warp the international game. If only they were. The inaugural season of the Nations League will be played in two years time, replacing European football’s international friendly circuit. It’s true that nobody in particular likes friendlies, especially international friendlies, but this new format will mean more fixtures (played under a contrived premise) and subsequently more international nights spread over the Week of Football. That noise you can just about hear over the sound of UEFA’s cash registers ringing is supporters across the continent groaning.

So if you thought UEFA’s idea of spreading international games wasn’t really working for competitive fixtures, just wait until the Nations League comes into play. Never mind if Lionel Messi can do it or not on a rainy Tuesday night in Stoke, can anyone do it in an international friendly on a rainy Tuesday night in front of just a few thousand fans in Cardiff?

Maybe there will come a day when all football is played behind closed doors - no atmosphere, no chants, no noise besides the desolate kicking of the ball - but broadcast to millions, like a dystopian episode of Black Mirror. UEFA’s Week of Football could be the first step on the route to such a vision. At least you’ll be able to record it all, though.