France is exactly that country of the Old World where Euro 2016 will be held. Thus, we can say that after eighteen years, the homeland of Platini and Zidane will again host the participants of the football feast. The charm of the upcoming European Championship is its new concept, on the basis of which twenty-four teams can immediately play the title of the best team in the Old World instead of the twelve that were the previous time.
Qualification period for Euro 2016
The list of nine qualifying groups was announced on February 23, 2014, and the first matches began in September. As for the groups themselves, they turned out to be quite equal in strength, because they were based on the rating of the national team in the FIFA list. The Russian national football team fell into group G, where they will compete for reaching the main stage of the competition with teams from Sweden, Austria, Liechtenstein, Moldova and Montenegro. In this group, the favorites are Russia and Sweden. Also, an unpleasant surprise for the fans of the Russian national team can be presented by the Austrian team. Ukraine and Belarus fell into the same group C, where they will also fight with Spain, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Macedonia. If the Ukrainian team does little to get out of the group, then Belarus needs to work hard to take at least third place. In October 2015, the names of all the teams that will go to Euro 2016 will be known, where the next holiday for football fans will be held.
Favorites of your qualification groups
In total, 53 European football teams are taking part in the qualification. Euro 2016, whose groups will be increased to eight, will be able to accept only 24 teams. Each of the nine qualification groups includes favorites. In group A, they are the national teams of the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The first two places in Group B are likely to be played by the national teams of Bosnia and Belgium. The clear leader of Group C is Spain, and Ukraine will argue for second place with Slovakia. Germany, Ireland and Poland are favorites of Group D. In Group E, England and Switzerland are the main contenders for entering the main stage of Euro 2016. Perhaps the weakest is Group F, where the leaders are Greece and Hungary. If it was said above about group G, then in groups H and I the favorites are the tandems Italy-Croatia and Portugal-Denmark, respectively.
Cities where Euro 2016 will be held
France is rich in interesting cities that have good stadiums for holding matches of such an important competition. At Euro 2016, teams will have the opportunity to play in different cities at different stadiums. Among the cities that will host the matches of the main European football competition in 2016, one can single out Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Marseille, Saint-Denis and, of course, Paris. In Lyon, matches will be held at the Stad de Lumiere stadium with a capacity of 58 thousand people. One of the most beautiful stadiums in the country is the home arena of the Marseille Olympic, the capacity of which is 67 thousand people will be the largest at Euro 2016. It is still unknown where the final match will take place, but it is likely to be hosted by the fifty thousandth Parc des Princes, located in Paris.
Briefly about the possible triumphs of the European Championship 2016
From time immemorial, sixteen teams took part in the draw of the title of the best team in Europe. Already 24. will compete in the upcoming European Championships. But despite such a large number of applicants, about seven to eight teams can really compete for the title. The clear favorites of the football festivals in France, where Euro 2016 will be, are Spain and Germany, who are the European champion in 2012 and the world champion in 2014, respectively. Among the contenders for the championship can be identified Italy, Holland, England, Belgium and, of course, the hostess of the competitions.
A bit about past winners
The greatest number of victories at the European football championships have two countries: Germany and Spain. They can boast of three major titles. But if the Germans won their last title back in 1996, then Spain won the last two championships. The first team that managed to become the European champion was the USSR team, which in 1960 broke the resistance of the Yugoslav national team. The country where Euro 2016 will be held, France, has become the European champion twice. The first time she did it in 1984, and in 2000 she added the title of the best team in Europe to the title of the best team in the world in 1998, defeating the Italian team in the final match with a score of 2-1.
Concept for the upcoming European Football Championship
The current idea for Euro 2016 is different from the one at previous championships. If earlier only 16 teams were selected during the qualification round, then at this European Championship 24 teams will be able to compete for the title of the best team in the Old World. All teams will be divided into six groups, each of which will contain four teams. For sure, the first two from each group go to the next stage. The remaining 4 places are taken by those teams that scored the most points among third places. You can see that at the playoff stage there will be not 8 teams, as before, but 16, which adds 1/8 to the stage. In addition, the concept of holding qualifying matches has changed somewhat. If earlier the host country held friendly games with various teams, now the national team of the country where Euro 2016 will be held will play friendly matches with the national team of the final group that does not hold an official match in their group.