From 2 to 12 August European Championships took place in the Scottish Glasgow and German Berlin. In Scotland there were competitions on water sports, cycling (track and road), rowing, triathlon, gymnastics and golf. Berlin had the only one, but the "royal" kind - athletics.

In the future, such competitions are planned to be held once every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle. European Championships in other years will be held separately as before.

At the same time, since 2015 the European Olympic Committee has laid down the tradition to conduct European games every four years, a kind of Olympics within the European continent, similar to the same Asian or African games. The first European games were held in Baku (Azerbaijan), the following should be held in 2019 in Minsk (Belarus). The program of the summer European Games - 2019 will include the following sports: acrobatics, aerobics, badminton, basketball 3x3, boxing, wrestling, cycling (track and road), gymnastics, rowing, judo, karate, athletics, table tennis, beach football, trampoline, shooting. As you can see, the number of sports on European Games is significantly higher than the number of sports in the European Championships, but among them there are obviously less attractive for spectators, such as acrobatics, aerobics or shooting.

The most interesting fact in all this history is that these tournaments have different organizers, and therefore, competing interests. The European championships is organized by a group of businessmen who at one time had involvement in the Champions League reform in the early 21st century, and the European Olympic Committee is directly involved in European games. Since there is talk about competition, it is necessary to understand what exactly the organizers of these two events will compete with. The answer is obvious - for spectator interest, and the spectator interest is directly dependent on the quality of the event, which, first of all, is determined by the level of athletes taking part in a particular competition. Thus, the task of both events is to attract top athletes.

In the issue of motivating athletes, obviously, the advantage gas the European championships, since athletes are accustomed to participate in continental championships, they understand the level of competition and the consequences of the results obtained there. At the same time, European games are still perceived by the majority as an optional contest without a clear structure, especially considering that the set of sports included in the European Games program is not stable today and depends on the abilities of the host country. In addition, the European Games are young and new competitions, while the European championships is not a new tournament, but is simply a combination of the usual championships in Europe, even under a common signboard, design and place.

Thus, it is worth acknowledging that the innovation in the way of the European championships poses a serious threat to the popularity and even the existence of the European games. The last for survival should have as a minimum the stability of kinds of sport, the understandability of the status and consequences for the winner and prize-winners. By the way, problems can arise with the last feature. For example, the title of the Eurogame champion could automatically mean the admission of an athlete or team for the Olympics, but the European Olympic Committee can not take such a decision, as the order of admission of athletes is determined by international federations that are naturally interested in the traditional continental or world championships.

Summarizing the above, I can say that European games have risk of ending their history already on the second issue, since the European championships are the more usual form of competition, the united championships gives the same effect as the European games, but the motivation of all main driving forces: athletes , spectators, the media speaks about the serious advantage of the European championships.