Euro 2012 kicks off

China might be far away from Europe, but that doesn't mean that Beijingers can't celebrate Euro 2012 in full swing. As the tournament kicks off in Poland and Ukraine this weekend, Beijingers will have the opportunity to participate in the local version of the football game or join a bus of partygoers for a crawl around the top soccer bars in town.

On the pitch, eight teams of 10 players each signed up already for the two day 5-a-side competition taking place on June 9-10, organized by Mashup Sports & Social. Each team can select one of the 16 countries they would like to represent from UEFA Euro 2012 when they register.

Off the pitch, about 40 Euro Cup fans signed up for a tour around Beijing bars between June 9 and July 1 with Pubcrawl Beijing. Wingers and drinkers placed their bets for the official Euro Cup and told us how to score in Beijing this month.

"I was in high school when France won the Euro Cup in 2000. Trezeguet [French-Argentinean international footballer] killed the Italians and I won a 20 yuan ($3.16) bet with my classmates," recalled Song Zhuoran, a 28-year-old football fan, who already signed up with his friends to play the Mashup Sports & Social competition. Song found out about the Euro Cup tournament and Mashup on Sina Weibo, China's huge microblogging service. "Our team will be representing England because most of us cheer for teams in the English league like Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United," explained Song, who's the captain of the team. "Our team's name is '3713' in honor of our class and alma mater number at the No.13 High School in Beijing," Song added.

In their late twenties, Song and his old high school mates are all Beijingers working in IT, banking and the construction industry. On weekends they get together to play football. However, Song prefers to watch the matches at home. "I dislike watching the domestic league matches at the stadium. They are noisy, too crowded and often abusive. Many people go to the stadium to vent instead of enjoying the games within the spirit of real football culture - shame on them," commented Song.

Song believes that with [Robin] van Persie and [Wesley] Sneijder on the field, the Netherlands is a big contender to win the Euro Cup; Germany will end up placed second because of its "physical and collective combat," while the superstars leading England and Spain might finish third.

Have a ball

Watching games with Dutch fans at Kokomo during the World Cup 2010 are some of the best football memories for Yoyao Hsueh, organizer of the Mashup Sports & Social football event. An American without a national team competing at Euro 2012, Hsueh supports his friends. "Dutch fans seemed to be the most devoted and whether the Netherlands won or lost, they still had a great time drinking," he explained. Eight teams signed up for Mashup's local competition. "We're hoping to get 16 teams in the days up to the competition," said Hsueh. "Top teams like England, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany are quite popular, but teams have also signed up to represent Portugal and even Russia," said Hsueh.

The first two days of the cup will take place in a double round-robin format for the four groups of teams. The top two teams in each group will play the knockout round on June 10. "There are no all-female squads so far, but there are girls playing in coed teams," said the organizer.

Founded three years ago, Mashup grew popular amongst sports fans in town for organizing local badminton, basketball and dodgeball leagues. "There are many football organizers in Beijing already, so there was a worry that if we were to set up a league, would enough people play?" explained Hsueh, saying that a high number of requests then prompted Mashup to organize the football league.

"Mashup focuses on social sports and wants people to have a fun environment to socialize and meet new people," said Hsueh, inviting friends, family and football fans to join the event and cheer for their teams. The competition will wrap up with a party to give out the awards and prizes from Adidas, the official international sponsor of the Euro and mashup Euro Cup 2012. Kokomo bar and Eudora Station are two of the best venues in town to watch the matches, added Hsueh.

Winner drinks all

If drinking rather than running is your favorite sport, then you can follow the crew of Pubcrawl Beijing and join revelers across the city on a tour bus and drop by the top soccer bars in town. The fan caravan will end up watching the matches on a big screen while chugging beer.

"After last year's first pub crawls around October received such positive feedback, I wanted to do something related to football to bring people of the same country together and cheer for their national teams, as well as meeting and having fun with people of different nationalities too," explained Matt Baron, the Dutch creator and manager of Pubcrawl Beijing. "So far we've had groups of Italians, Dutch and Spanish people signing up and the most popular events are the quarter finals and finals," added the manager.

Baron teamed up with a multicultural group of friends to spread the word about the eight crawls and list the best soccer bars in the city that serve Heineken beer, the sponsor of the international crawl event. The itinerary includes stops at some of the most popular venues among sports lovers in town, like The Den, Stumble Inn, Frank's Place, Hooters, Kro's Nest, Beijing-NL Food & Sports Bar and Eudora Station. Sports fans also endorsed Paddy O'Shea's, recently opened Brussels bar and the giant screens at Sanlitun Village and The Place as favorite venues to follow the most awaited football competition of the year.

Mashup Euro Cup 2012

Saturday and Sunday, June 9-10, 11 am-5:30 pm, Winning League CBD Cultural Sports Square, 500 yuan for a team of 10 people.

Pubcrawl Beijing

Between Saturday June 9 and Sunday July 1, 100 yuan for a Pubcrawl Beijing T-shirt, goodie bag, entrance to party bus and free shot and beer deals at every bar stop.