In this year's Euros, not 16 but 24 countries will battle it out for the most desired trophy in European football. The 24 participating nations have been divided into 6 groups with 4 in each group. Knockout stage will follow the group stage including three rounds to be followed by the final.
The paramount European competition is to be played across 10 venues in 10 cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lyon, Lille, Saint-Denis, Marseille, Nice, Saint-Etienne, Paris and Toulouse. France will play the hosts for the third time. The French have been the champions twice: 1984 and 2000. The winning team is presented with an opportunity to take part in the FIFA Confederations Cup. The next Confederations Cup is to be held in Russia in 2017.
The last two Euros were held in the years 2012 and 2008 and Spain emerged as the champions both the times, their European feat in the year 2008 championships started the era of their dominance in World Football. Spain became the only country in the world to triumph three major international Football tournaments successively: the Euros 2008, the World Cup 2010 and the Euros 2012.
In the Euros 2012, Spain's Fernando Torres scored the maximum number of goals including one in the final against Italy along with an assist and won the Golden Boot, adding another milestone to his already highly decorated career. Spain's Andres Iniesta was chosen as the best player of the tournament and was awarded with the Golden Ball. The Euros 2016 is also anticipated to be highly competitive with giants like the world champions Germany, the defending champions Spain and the hosts France going in as the favorites. The players to keep an eye out for include Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal, Zlatan Ibrahamovic from Sweden, Mesut Ozil from Germany, Antoine Griezmann from France and Andres Iniesta from Spain amongst the many others.
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Martin Wynn
