2021 will live on in the collective memory of football for a long time. This is the year that fans made their voices heard in more than one way. It was the year that saw Euro 2020 played in 2021 and the year in which we have arguably witnessed the biggest upheaval in the Champions League of all time.

Of course, the last 12 months of football have been played against the grim backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic as a series of cases of racism have clouded the discourse around the sport as well. There were, however, a number of moments to savor in 2021. These are five of the best…

Fans find their voices amid Super League controversy

April witnessed a potentially pivotal moment in modern gaming history as 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, announced their intention to create their own breakaway division – the ‘European Super League.’

However, supporters across the country have found their voice to stop a reorganization of English and European football. Protests at the Emirates Stadium and Stamford Bridge took place before Manchester United fans stormed Old Trafford ahead of a Premier League game against Liverpool with the game ultimately postponed.

The Super League wreckage continues to smolder, but there are fears that something may rise from the ashes again with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez particularly optimistic. However, the April Super League episode proved to fans, so often overlooked and ignored at the elite level, the power they have.

Sheriff Tiraspol’s shock at Santiago Bernabeu

That Sheriff Tiraspol even qualified for the Champions League group stages was incredible in itself, but the Moldovan minnows went further by pulling off one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition, beating 13 both Real Madrid champion of Europe on its own ground. The Santiago Bernabeu had never seen anything like it before.

The sheriff’s story could hardly be more bizarre. Founded by two former KGB agents and owned by a conglomerate that owns everything from a telephone network to gas stations in Moldova, they gave themselves a real chance to play in the Champions League after winning their first two group matches. against Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Madrid. . They ultimately failed to produce another miracle, but lost in the Europa League after finishing third in Group D.

Denmark qualify for Euro 2020 semi-finals

Christian Eriksen’s collapse in Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener shocked the footballing world, but joy sprang from a country’s desperation as Kasper Hjulmand’s side had a sensational run until the semi-finals of the competition. Yussuf Poulsen’s opener in Denmark’s next game against Belgium delighted Parken Stadium as the RB Leipzig forward looked visibly moved.

Russia’s 4-1 demolition sent Denmark to the round of 16 and highlighted the quality of the squad that Hjulmand, forced to change tactics following the loss of his best player, had forged. Knockout wins over Wales and the Czech Republic followed before the Danes were stopped by England in the last four. Italy may have got their hands on the trophy, but in many Denmark it was Euro 2020 history.

Crowds return to Wembley for Leicester City FA Cup triumph

The first half of the year was played against the soundtrack of silence. Empty stadiums became the norm during the Covid-19 pandemic, so when 21,000 fans (the largest crowd at an English football game since the start of the crisis) filled Wembley in mid-May, we really felt like football was back.

Leicester City supporters made such a noise when Youri Tielemens hit a 25-yard winner that even the neutrals were moved. The after-full-time scenes as the Foxes celebrated their first-ever FA Cup triumph reminded us all of the human connection in football and why the sport is so much more than what happens on the pitch.

England ends 55-year-old German hoodoo

At the 2018 World Cup, England finally won an important penalty shootout in a tournament and at Euro 2020, Gareth Southgate banned more ghosts from the past. For the first time in 55 years, for the first time since 1966, the Three Lions beat Germany in a knockout game at a major tournament as one country really began to believe that this time the football could finally come home.

The last 16 wins against Germany have also seen Neil Diamond’s hit “Sweet Caroline” adopted as an anthem to sum up the hope of a nation emerging from the nightmare of the Covid-19 pandemic – “hands, touching hands, reach out, touch me, touch you. England’s penalty shootout hoodoo may have come back to haunt them in the final against Italy, but they will always have the victory against Germany to cherish.