Less rest between seasons due to COVID.

For example, the English Premier League this year finished on 23rd May and starts again on 13th August (82 days rest). Last year, teams played 9-10 games between the COVID resumption on 19th June and league finish on 26th July. There were then just 48 days rest until the next season started on 12th September 2020.

The continental competitions (Champions League and Europa League) were also played during August 2020 meaning many players at top clubs had next to zero break between the two seasons. This has all had a knock-on effect to this tournament. I'm actually surprised there haven't been more injuries.

P.s. Small nitpick but the "European Cup" is the aforementioned Champions League trophy which is contested by the top club teams in Europe. The current international tournament is the European Championships or Euros.

Doesn't seem plausible that stress causes a factor of x10 or whatever number of OGs. Were there a huge number of OGs in all the other tournaments as well?

Stress just doesn't seem plausible. It would mean that WC/Euro/Copa/UCL/etc final stage games would be flooded with OGs, even without Covid.

> WC/Euro/Copa/UCL/etc final stage games would be flooded with OG

Another factor is the difference of team dynamics in Club vs International football. The first three you mentioned are all international tournaments (nations play each other) while UCL is club football.

Consider that national teams only play a handful of times over a season (generally 2x per international break), and then on to a big event like the Euros. And all the other times they play outside of a tournament (friendlies, tournament quals) their manager is trying to win and tweak the team at the same time. Not to mention, the selection pool for a national team is very limited compared to what even a mid-table club could assemble (Arsenal, looking at you :P ).

So, national teams playing this tournament are not only stressed, they are also less-acquainted with each other.

I guess you could argue for comparing Euros and Copa America but another thing to keep in mind is the variance of skill level per player in this tournament. I find it reasonable to claim the variance is less in Euros than in Copa (quick reason: Messi, Neymar, Aguero, Coutinho, Firmino, etc. all play in European clubs but are eligible for Copa).

This gap in skill in Copa makes OGs less likely. South American defenders don't always deal with Messi or Neymar but the European defenders and strikers could've played (with or against) each other in club competition. This makes close situations leading to OGs more likely.

> Doesn't seem plausible that stress causes a factor of x10 or whatever number of OGs

It isn't. See other comments in this thread for the more likely reasons (changed interpretation of "last touch" etc).

My comment was mainly replying to parent comment about why the players are/could be under increased stressed in this tournament.

Mainly because it was back to back with most Country Leagues, the players had no time to relax between their obligations.

It was pretty hot during most games, especially in the first weeks. Maybe that was a factor. Maybe the strategy to involve players more actively in defense was also relevant. Most own goals were tries to kick the ball away from the penalty area and perhaps it was just bad luck in many cases.

Well, teams are allowed 5 substitutions rather than the usual 3 because many European competitions were extended (and hence close to the Cup) due to Covid, so possibly that played a role?

More travelling in this decentralised euros