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With the culmination of the champions league, where Chelsea beat Manchester City in a tense final, the European football fans now turn their heads towards the international fixtures. The European Championship, otherwise known as the Euro cup, is only next to the FIFA world cup and the Champions League in its popularity and prestige. In the 60 years since its inaugural in 1960, the European Championship has established itself as one of the world’s most exciting and anticipated tournaments. Originally scheduled to be held in 2020, it was delayed by one year due to the ongoing pandemic. However, it would still be referred to as Euro 2020’ – a decision made to keep the original vision of the tournament which was to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary.
It will be the first Euro cup to be held in an odd year, the first to make use of Video Assistant Referees, the first to permit five substitutes to be used by each team per game, and the first to host matches with a limited audience in stadiums.
With the competition just around the corner, let’s gear you up with all you should know heading into Euro 2020.
When is it held?
After waiting for an additional year, the fans will rejoice when the tournament gets underway on Friday, June 11, 2021. The opening game will be held at Stadio Olimpico in Rome between Italy and Turkey. The event was pushed back to reduce the stress on the public services in pandemic-affected countries and allow the domestic leagues to complete their suspended seasons. The competition will span for a month and will conclude on July 11 2021 at Wembley Stadium, London.
Which are the venues?
The tournament spreads throughout the continent with 11 host cities in 11 countries. Although the number was 13 initially, Dublin and Brussels were removed from the list of host cities, as they failed to meet the requirements set by the Union of European Football Association (UEFA). Of the eleven host countries, six have never hosted the tournament before, while only two of the eleven selected stadia have hosted a European Championship match before.
For the first time, the championship is being held across 11 countries, to celebrate the 60th “birthday” of the tournament. Each city shall host three group stage matches except Saint Petersburg, which shall host six group stage matches. Further, one match in the quarter-final or the round of 16 shall be played in each city, but London will host two round of 16 matches.
The list of the venues are as below, V9bet sporting betting provided and updated
- Wembley Stadium, London, England.
- Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy.
- Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
- Olympic Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan.
- Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- La Cartuja, Seville, Spain.
- Arena Nationala, Bucharest, Romania.
- Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary.
- Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany.
The Qualification.
All the 55 UEFA national teams, including the 11 host countries, had to compete in the qualifiers for 24 places at the finals tournament. The 55 member teams of the UEFA were drawn into 10 groups. 20 teams, the top two from each of the group, reached the tournament through the European Qualifiers, held between March and November 2019. Four more national teams joined the tournament via the playoffs.
The qualifying teams include Belgium and Italy, both with a flawless qualifier record of 10 wins in 10 matches, the defending champions Portugal, world champion France, with Germany qualifying for a record 13th consecutive European Championship. North Macedonia and Finland are set to make their European Championship debut.
The teams that qualified and the groups drawn are as follows,
Group A: Turkey, Italy, Wales, Switzerland
Group B: Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, North Macedonia
Group D: England, Croatia, Scotland, Czech Republic
Group E: Spain, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia
Group F: Hungary, Portugal, France, Germany
For the full schedule of the tournament, click here.
Miscellaneous
- Cristiano Ronaldo needs just one goal to become the tournament’s outright top goal scorer.
- Defending champions Portugal aims to become only the second country to retain the trophy, while the world champion France is hoping to hold both the World and European titles simultaneously.
- England, with one of the best squads they have had in years, are the favourites to lay their hands on the Henri Delaunay Trophy (aka, the Euro Cup), but their odds are closely matched by an equally strong and star-studded side of World champions France.
- Harry Kane, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Mbappe, Lukaku are some of the big names in the run for the golden boot.
- The postponed tournament means that this year’s champions would hold the title for the second shortest amount of time only after Russia who held the title for just two years back when the event was supposed to be biannual.
- This would also mean that Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal would be the team to hold the trophy for the longest time between two editions of the tournament.
In today’s era, football is what determines the status of a country in Europe. Thus the Euro Cup becomes more than just a sporting competition. In the continent with a common passion of the game, football tournament as this is a stage for the country to prove that they are the best. Important landmarks are bound to be reached. In these unprecedented times, the chances of a big upset are considerable. The European Championship has always been a stage for such shocks and this provides immense hope for the underdogs to script history.
