It’s been a long wait, but today it’s finally happening…. the start of UEFA’s Euro 2016, the European Championship of football (soccer for our American friends), which is the 15th edition of the UEFA European Championship.
Host country is France, it got picked on 28 May 2010, after a bidding process in which they beat out Turkey and Italy.
The EURO 2016 matches will be played in 10 stadiums located in ten cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Étienne, and Toulouse.
France is hosting the tournament for the third time, it was host nation to the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals.
It’s the 1st time that the European Championship final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, previously a 16-team format has been used since 1996.
The qualified national teams will contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage including three rounds and the final.
Qualified Teams
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales.
The opening match will be played on June 10, 2016 at 9:00 PM (GMT+2) between France v Romania, in Paris at the Stade de France, the national stadium of France.
Who do you think will win Euro 2016?