When is the Euro 2016 draw, what are the pots and who can England play in France?

The draw for Euro 2016 is imminent now that the play-offs have been settled and the tournament is now only months away.

There have been some changes to the European Championships since the 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine and some familiar faces will be missing from the finals next year, having failed to qualify.

We've put together everything you need to know about the upcoming Euro 2016 group draw, as well as the tournament as a whole - it's never too early to get excited.

Mesut Ozil, Gerard Pique and Robert Lewandowski will be at Euro 2016

When will Uefa make the Euro 2016 draw?

The draw date for the Euro 2016 groups is Saturday 12 December and the actual draw is scheduled to take place at 6pm CET (5pm GMT).

The official draw ceremony for the groups will be held in Paris.

How do the pots and seedings affect the draw?

This is all decided by coefficient - leading to more than a few miffed looks among followers of Northern Ireland (who topped their qualifying group) and Wales (who until recently were ranked above England in the top 10 of the Fifa world rankings).

While England sit in pot one, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland reside in pot four.

The arguments over rankings and coefficents and more suitable gauges of team quality will likely rumble on until the end of time, sadly.

Who could England draw?

Being in pot one means England will avoid holders Spain, hosts France and eternal nemesis Germany, as well as Eden Hazard's Belgium and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.

The ideal pick from pot two for England would be Switzerland, whom the Three Lions beat home and away in qualifying without much fuss.

However, Italy also lurk in pot two. The Azzuri knocked England out of the last European Championship in a quarter-final penalty shootout, and also put a firm nail in the coffin of England's 2014 World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory in their opening group match.

Wayne Rooney tries an overhead kick aginst Italy in Euro 2012Italy have tormented England in the past two major tournaments  Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Pot three is a minefield of middling teams who on their day, judging from England's previous tournament campaigns, could prove troublesome.

From pot four England have an evens chance of drawing one of their close neighbours, either Northern Ireland, Wales, or the Republic of Ireland. Such a fixture would undoubtedly be an exciting prospect but the heightened tension could well hamper the English players.

When is the Euro 2016 tournament?

Euro 2016 is scheduled to take place between Friday 10 June and Sunday 10 July.

With the expansion of the tournament to 24 teams, next year's finals will include a round of 16 following the group stages for the first time.

Where is Euro 2016 being held?

Euro 2016 is being held in France across the following 10 stadiums:

  • Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (42,000 capacity)
  • Stade Bollaert Delelis, Lens Agglo (35,000)
  • Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille Metropole (50,100)
  • Stade de Lyon, Lyon (58,000)
  • Stade Velodrome, Marseilles (67,000)
  • Stade de Nice, Nice (35,000)
  • Parc des Princes, Paris (45,000)
  • Stade de France, Saint-Denis (80,000)
  • Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Saint-Etienne (41,500)
  • Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse (33,000)

The venue for the final will be the Stade de France, which held the 1998 World Cup final in which Les Blues beat holders Brazil 3-0.

This is what a major tournament final in the Stade de France looks like

Are Euro 2016 tickets available?

Not yet.

You will be able to apply for your selected matches on the Uefa website between December and January, with the outcome of your application decided by February.

England fans looking to apply for tickets will need to be members of the England Supporters Travel Club, and the ticket portal for England fans opens on Monday 14 December.

Thus far there has been no news on ticket prices.

Is there an official Euro 2016 ball?

Of course there is! The literal centrepiece of the action is always a hotly anticipated part of any major tournament and a key point of discussion during the drab stalemates that often pepper the early group stages.

How many goalless draws and shanked free-kicks before we start questioning the ball's craftsmanship is a point on which many an office sweepstake should be based.

The France 2016 ball was unveiled by former Real Madrid midfielder and France international Zinedine Zidane, and is named 'Beau Jeu'.

It has been painstakingly developed over an 18-month period and purports to build on the work that went into producing the 'Brazuca' ball for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The ball will be available for use from the end of November, so international sides have no excuses if they can't hit a barn door come next June.

Which teams have already qualified for Euro 2016?

  • Albania
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • England
  • France (hosts)
  • Germany
  • Iceland
  • Italy
  • Northern Ireland
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Slovakia
  • Spain (holders)
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • Wales
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Hungary
Share on Google Plus

About Quang

My blog is the place to update the latest information on sports, science and technology ... If you found this article good, useful please the share for others to see, even if you want to design a ecommerce website or web edit or set a special plugin functionality, please contact us now (Information in the footer)
    Blogger Comment
    Facebook Comment

0 nhận xét:

Đăng nhận xét