With exactly one year to go until the 60th anniversary of the European Championships gets under way, UEFA has released a cartoon-strip back story showing how Skillzy literally smashed his way to top billing in the fabled talent show.

The kids-focused animated film shows how a car park kickabout with his friends catapulted him to centre stage in a neighbouring audition after a tough freestyle trick went badly wrong – breaking a window and interrupting one of the talent show contestants.

Skillzy’s tricks and flicks when retrieving the ball impressed the awestruck judging panel – and the rest is history. He is then catapulted on a European Tour across the 12 host city venues, showcasing his skills in iconic locations from Baku to Bucharest, Bilbao to Budapest.

As well as celebrating the one year to go landmark for UEFA EURO 2020, the animated film also mirrors the talent competition theme at the heart of Your Move: a Europe-wide competition to find the most talented freestylers, street and panna footballers to become part of the EURO 2020 mascot team.

Each of the 12 host city venues will have freestyle representatives in the mascot team – giving fans across Europe a unique opportunity to represent their country and be part of the historic celebrations at high-profile events.

Fans have until July 1 to enter Your Move by uploading a video of their most impressive skills here. The entries will be judged by Liv Cooke, the 4x world freestyle record holder from England, and the former European Freestyle Champion, Tobias Becs, from Norway, and the winners will join the UEFA EURO 2020 Freestylers at the tournament.

Your Move is open to anyone over the age of 18 and living within the 12 countries staging final-tournament matches: Azerbaijan, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain.

Courtesy of UEFA

The official mascot for UEFA EURO 2020 has been unveiled during a spectacular pre-match display in Amsterdam.

Accompanied by two of the world’s leading freestylers, Liv Cooke and Tobias Becs, Skillzy showed off a few moves to the 55,000 crowd ahead of the European Qualifier between the Netherlands and Germany.

Together, they form the UEFA EURO 2020 Mascot Team and will challenge freestylers and football fans in each of the 12 Host Cities to join them via an online competition, Your Move.

“Being able to take the beauty of freestyling, street football and panna to football fans all over Europe is a really special opportunity,” says Liv, an English former world champion and Together #WePlayStrong ambassador.

“Whether it’s playing in the park or on the world stage, whether it is football or freestyling, it’s about expressing yourself with the ball at your feet.”

Your chance to get involved

People from all 12 UEFA EURO 2020 host nations are now invited to follow Liv’s advice and show what they can do: upload a video of skills that best represent your host city and you could bag a role during the finals!

Liv and Tobias will shortlist the entries for a public vote when two people (one male, one female) will be chosen for each of the host cities: Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Munich, Rome and Saint Petersburg.

“UEFA EURO 2020 will be one of the biggest sporting events in history, and the involvement of freestyle culture will only enhance it as a spectacle and make sure there is something for everyone,” says Tobias, a former European champion from Norway. “This feels like a really exciting crossover moment.”

The 24 winners will become local UEFA EURO 2020 Freestylers and will get the chance to display their skills at selected events.

To learn more, please visit www.euro2020.com/your-move