Case Study | UEFA EURO 2020 - Simultaneous Interpretation in Sports

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has been holding The UEFA European Championship (the 'EURO's'), the national men's football competition between European countries, every four years - since 1960.

But EURO 2020 was an especially challenging edition, with a raging pandemic putting a spoke into the wheels of one of the world's biggest sports events. But UEFA managed to adapt, and despite an impossible mission to plan a mega-event mid-pandemic, managed to return with a safe and successful edition of EURO 2020 - in summer 2021.

Overview

Having delivered remote simultaneous interpretation for both UEFA's Men's and Women's Champions League finals, Interprefy was chosen to support the multilingual needs of the EURO 2020 press conferences, pre- and post-match.

Contributing to such a challenging and complex event is a great honor for Interprefy. The success relies on a perfect coordination and great implementation from all parties involved. I can only be proud of the Interprefy team and project manager handling this project from A to Z.

- Johann Brégand, Senior Business Manager at Interprefy

The Challenge

Different locations and undefined start times

Throughout the tournament, UEFA hosted 45-minute press conferences on match days - one the day before each match and one just after the final whistle.

Matches were played in eleven countries but the stadiums were not the only venues for the press conferences. Because of the social distancing measures put in place, mobility was restricted and, in some cases, the pre-match press conferences could not be held from the stadiums. As a result, another 33 additional remote locations - including transfer hotels and base camps - also served as press conference centers. Another logistical challenge for post-match press conferences was that you never quite knew when the match would conclude and therefore when the conference could begin.

Additionally, Interprefy provided UEFA with 16 RSI boxes that were placed in the International Broadcasting Center in Amsterdam. The RSI boxes received all the feeds from all over Europe and fed the interpretation back into the broadcasting channels and the interpretation platform.

The Approach

Remote interpreting and technical training

Before the tournament, Interprefy had provided extensive RSI training to the interpreter teams assigned to the 102 press conferences on Interprefy's platform and procedures.

Interprefy further ensured all technical staff - both remote and onsite - were trained on how to make the hybrid conference set-ups work seamlessly under tight schedules. Flawless communication and coordination as well as a customer-centered approach were key in the success of these events.

The Outcome

All 102 press conferences were free of language barriers for all journalists attending the conferences on-site and remotely and for the audience who accessed the broadcast. The conference interpreters provided a stellar interpreting experience in English, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, Czech, French, German, Russian, Swedish, Flemish, Croatian, Dutch, Hungarian, Portuguese, Finnish, Polish, Slovak, Romanian, Macedonian and Turkish.

The delivery of remote press conferences at UEFA EURO 2020 was a significant logistical and operational challenge. It was vital to have highly experienced, adaptable and reliable partners such as Interprefy to ensure a high level of service to the accredited media and broadcasters.

- Andrin Cooper, Senior Media Services and Operations Manager at UEFA