Euro 2012 from the best seat in Paris

Paris is a good place to be for sports fans who can’t make it to an event in person. Every year during the French Open, screens are set up at Hotel de Ville for spectators to watch the major matches live from Roland Garros; and all this month, a fan park has been up at Trocadéro for football fans to enjoy each Euro 2012 match. Between the iconic locations and gratis entry, these are definitely better alternatives to watching a match in a bar or at home (or reading the BBC live blog, like this nerd has been doing).

For those who couldn’t make it to Poland or Ukraine for Euro 2012, Hyundai set up “Fan Parks” in seven major cities around Europe to watch the games. (Sometimes, you have to appreciate the big corporate sponsors.) Sure, it’s not the same as actually being in Poznań or Lviv, but it’s a more than acceptable substitute: in Paris, the entire garden area at Trocadéro has been blocked off for spectators to enjoy the games, which are played on a large screen directly in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Despite living only a few minutes away from the Trocadéro, I never felt like standing amongst the tourists and watching a match. But it was the semi-finals this week, and the match-ups were promising, so I finally paid the fan park a visit.

The first night I watched Portugal play Spain; each country had more than enough fans to pack the park, with the overflow filling the surrounding gardens. The following night’s game was Italy against Germany, which was sure to be more orderly, though just as good a game (if not better, as Portugal and Spain had failed to score at all in two hours of play).

For that game, I met up with my friend Christine and, knowing that security would pat us down for beverages at the entrance, we indulged in a bottle of wine in a secluded garden nearby before walking down to the fan park gates.

We found a spot amidst some Germany supporters to watch the match, which was of course accompanied by commentary en français; we delighted in listening to French announcers talk about German players like Schweinsteiger (“SCHVEINSTEIGAHH!”).

By halftime we were enamored with Mario Balotelli, the Italian striker with a golden mohawk who skillfully scored both of Italy’s goals. I (a goalie myself) had also developed a keeper-crush on Gianluigi Buffon, who is ranked one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers — watching him was like watching an artist at work; his brilliant saves left the Germans scoreless up until the 90th minute of the game.

As someone cheekily noted, “Mario and Luigi always save the day.”

The crowd was fairly calm during the entire game, so despite the 33 police vans and one police bus parked nearby, there was no need for the riot squads — many of whom, lacking chaos to control, were also watching and discussing the game.

For anyone who will be in Paris this weekend and is interested in watching the final between Spain and Italy, the gates to the Hyundai Fan Park open Sunday at 19:00. If you can’t be in Kiev, I’m pretty sure this is the next best place to be.

Where’s the coolest place you’ve ever watched a live sporting event?