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Picks of the Week: 12th June 2000

Small boys, jumpers as goalposts... endearing image, isn't it?
At last it's here: Euro 2000. Who can forget Euro 96? Last time round it took place in England. Re-living those memories can be painful sometimes (a certain Aston Villa defender comes to mind), but at the same time there were some glorious moments. We're hoping this year's championship in Holland and Belgium will be as exciting, and this time round, England are the UK's only representatives. Here's a look at some of the sites that can guide you through this footballing marathon.
First up is UEFA Euro 2000, the official site. Available in six (count 'em) languages, the site promises much, and actually manages to deliver too. There's an extensive news section covering all the nations taking part, and you can find out about each team individually with a squad profile on every country taking part. The Supporters section contains a forum which can only be reached by registering with the site (evidently to keep the hooligans out), and there's a section on each of the venues. The design and layout is clean and easy to navigate, so it's fair to say that UEFA have come up with the goods this time round.
The UK media have been getting in on the act as well. Once again, the BBC are there with their BBC Euro 2000 site. When it comes to the news, it's bang up-to-date, and the focus is mainly on England of course. They've crammed a lot in here, there's an extensive history of the tournament, the Ask Albert (Sewell) section for all those Stattos among you, and perhaps most essentially, a schedule, so you know when and which matches are on BBC television. Which brings us conveniently on to ITV Football, which launched the day the tournament started. And with a picture of "the housewife's favourite" Des Lynam on the front page, what more can you ask? It's a rather flashy affair, covering more than just Euro 2000, perhaps a little weak on content right now, but expect it to grow and grow as the tournament progresses.
The 365 Corporation have muscled in too with their EuroFinals 365 site. It's a natty looking offering, and like UEFA's site, offers content in a number of languages. Its content, too, is like the UEFA site - news, team rundowns and so on, but it's the fun and features section that got us coming back for more. There's a chance to hear Kevin Keegan singing (warbling) for England, and also they've got him dressed up as an Ali G spoof in Keggy G's England Team Selecta, and of course, there's the world famous Euro 2000 Lookalikes, which should keep you chuckling for a while.
Next up are the national newspapers. The Guardian's FootballUnlimited Euro2000 offering is pretty extensive. There's plenty of news, and all the information you could possibly need. Most interesting though are its editorials and opinions from writers like Harry Pearson and Darren Tackle. There's even an interactive wallchart in Excel format to download.
The Indpendent's Euro 2000 section is perhaps not so full of content. Still, there's all the latest news, and the opportunity to win VIP tickets to the exciting England v Germany contest next weekend, but the sweepstakes section is a little poor: "cut out the shaded section and draw the names from a hat with 15 of your friends". The Internet being used to its greatest potential there, then...
The Times Euro 2000 Guide offers links on its front page to the official site and their fantasy league, plus a chance to win tickets to the matches. But the main site is a little dowdy, not really offering anything that spectacular, but still fulfilling its aim to provide enough useful information on the tournament, players, fixtures, and so on.
Most interesting Euro 2000 site of all though must be Nishlord's Euro 2000 Diary. This is a wonderfully witty collection of writing on the championships. His lowdown on the groups makes for entertaining reading - acerbic, rude, full of swearing - exactly what football should be about. Once you get through the group rundown pages, it's onto the diary itself. Again, there's more fun writing here: "In the European Championships, however, the xenophobia and bile spills over and it's more fun than a whore with three tongues". The brief history of the tournament is again both amusing and full of bad language. So, you've gotta love it, it puts everything else to shame with its frankness, wit, jingoism, and sheer offensiveness.
So that's it, just a small selection of some of the sites offering Euro 2000 information. And don't forget, you can keep up to date with all the news on our very own Yahoo! Sport, which includes a unique broadcast between 12pm and 2pm every day.

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