EURO 2020: Everything you need to know

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The 2020 Euro tournament is right around the corner, and after delays due to the current, one of the best football tournaments in the world is about to start.With teams from across the continent competing in 11 cities, tons of goals to be scored, and some of the best players in the world.

However, some may still not be sure who is playing, where they are playing, and what the format of the tournament is. This post will go through everything you need to know before the tournament begins.

Where is it Being Played? 

This year’s tournament starts on the 11th of June and ends on the 11th of July, and is being held across 11 host cities. 12 cities were due to host games, but Dublin had to relinquish their responsibilities due to Coronavirus concerns.

The host cities are Amsterdam, Baku, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Munich, Seville, and St. Petersburg. Rome and London will also be hosting games, with Rome being chosen for the opening fixture, and the final of the tournament to take place at Wembley Stadium in London.

Who is Playing? 

There are 24 teams that are split into 6 groups. Group A will include Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and Wales. Group B will include Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland. Group C will have Ukraine, Netherlands. Austria and North Macedonia.

Group D will have England, Croatia, Czech Republic and Scotland. Group E is Spain, Poland, Sweden and Slovakia. Group F is the group of death, and includes Germany, France, Portugal and Hungary.

Tournament Format 

The tournament format is pretty straight-forward. Each team will play the other teams in their group, and receive points for a win or draw and none for a loss. The top two teams in each group wll then go into the Round of 16, with the top 4 third place finishers making up the rest of the 16 teams.

From this point on it is purely elimination. Winners will go through to the quarter-finals, then the winners of the quarter-finals matches will go through to the semi-finals, and then onto the final. There is no third place game unlike some other tournaments.

Favorites

The favorites heading into the tournament have to be England and France. Both sides have incredibly strong squads, however, the likes of Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands have been billed as dark horses, with Italy especially being tipped as a surprise winner.

The bookies’ favorites currently are England. They have an incredibly strong squad that has depth, experience, and on paper have all the working parts to form one tournament winning machine.

Gareth Southgate has been criticised with his selection choices though, with many fans being surprised and almost outraged by the fact that Jesse Lingard, who just came off the back of his best Premier League season ever with West Ham, and James Ward-Prowse who is arguably one of the best players behind a dead ball in the country.