UEFA Euro 2020: All you need to know, Format, and predictions

 Hey guys, it’s been a while, and as we all know the UEFA Euro Cup has started and is taking all over the football fans with some really exciting and thrilling fixtures coming up.

First, I’ll start with a little introduction about the competition, and then we’ll move onto reviewing the predictions’ part. The UEFA Euro cup was started in 1960 and is being held every four years since then, and is a competition solely held for the European countries, and is the second most watched international football competition after the FIFA World Cup. Germany and Spain are the two most successful teams in the competition having won the competition 3 times each, and the last Euro Cup held in 2016 was won by Portugal.

The format of the Euro Cup is similar to the UEFA Champions League, as there are 24 qualifying countries, divided into 6 groups of 4 teams each, and each team plays the 3 opponent teams placed in its group. At the end of the group stage matches, the top 2 teams from each group qualify for the Round of 16, and the four best 3^rd place teams from all the six groups decided on the basis of points and goal difference get qualified to the Round of 16. From the Round of 16, starts the eliminations, and goes on similarly as the UCL, till the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, and the Finals. Interestingly, the competition even though being played in the year 2021, is being called UEFA Euro 2020, simply because it was scheduled to be played in the year 2020, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it has been shifted to the year 2021.

Finally moving on to the predictions part, this year in the group stages, group A consists of Italy, Wales, Switzerland and Turkey, the group is fairly balanced and Italy are gaining momentum under their manager Roberto Mancini, and I predict Italy and Wales to qualify from this group. Group B consists of Belgium, Finland, Denmark, and Russia, is a fairly competitive group, with the golden generation of Belgium being a part of the group, and I expect Belgium, and Denmark to qualify from this group, and with Russia finishing third could possibly move on to the Round of 16, as the best four 3^rd position countries. Group C consists of Austria, Netherlands, Ukraine, and North Macedonia, and is certainly not the best matched group in the competition, with only Netherlands being a fairly strong team, however, I expect Netherlands and Austria to qualify from this group. Group D consists of Czech Republic, England, Croatia, and Scotland, is a fairly matched and quite exciting group with the likes of the immense talent in the England squad and the last world cup runner ups Croatia being in the same group, I expect England and Croatia to qualify from this group, however Czech Republic could be a possible candidate for the best four 3^rd place teams. Group E consists of Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Poland, and is another well matched group with teams like Spain being the part of the group, I expect Spain and Poland to qualify from this group. Finally the Group F or as its being called, the “group of death”, because all possible Euro winning worthy squads are being placed in this group, the group consists of the World Champions France, last Euro Cup Champions Portugal, one of the most successful teams in the history of Euro competition Germany, and Hungary, and we all expect to see the best matches of the competition to be played in this group, and we have already witnessed one last night in the France vs Germany fixture, with France winning with Germany’s own goal, I expect France and Portugal to qualify from this group, and Germany too qualifying for the Round of 16 as part of the four best 3^rd place teams.

So these were my predictions, do let me know if you agree or have some different views on the fixtures. Before signing off, I will address one question that bothers Football Fans, and people who are new to the World of Football, is that why England, Wales, and Scotland have different Football teams internationally?

To answer this question, we need to look back at history, back when England, Wales, and Scotland were different countries in the 19^th Century, International Football was then not as widespread as it is today and people used to consider a good football match only when England and Scotland, or England and Wales used to play against each other. Now the politics and economic reality has changed drastically, however, it is decided to keep that tradition going in Football, and therefore, England, Wales, and Scotland have different International squads as far as Football is considered. Some also argue that if these 3 would merge together, the team would be full of immensely good players and would result in an undefeatable squad for the United Kingdom, do let me know if you agree to this or you have a different viewpoint. Thank You.