The 2016 European Championships are well and truly underway, and while many would prefer to focus solely on the football, recent events have drawn attention to other elements of the tournament.
The rather disgraceful behavior of a minority of fans, particularly those from Russia, have again sparked conversations around football violence and the security implications of major international tournaments and events. With police in France struggling to put a stop to the trouble or effectively segregate fans, many are asking questions around the ability of the security services to protect civilians around the country. This is particularly pertinent given the sheer number of available police and security personnel in place at the European Championships, and the reported 24 million euros spent on security in light of the recent IS terrorist attacks in Paris and internationally.
The security issues are of course extremely important, but that figure – 24 million euros – got me thinking about the amount of money spent on a tournament such as this. How much does it cost to put on a major international football tournament, and how much did the French government spend putting on Euro 2016?
Luckily, the fantastic Money Life has already done the calculations, producing this superb infographic on the cost of Euro 2016: