Euro 2016 kick-off with France versus Romania

 

The tournament kicks off with France playing Romania on Friday, 10 June and the final will take place at the Stade de France in Paris on 10 July. Spain are hoping to retain the title they won in 2008 and 2012.

England will be appearing at their ninth finals, while Wales and Northern Ireland have qualified for the first time.

How does it work?

Good question - because, for the first time, there are 24 teams competing in the finals. That is an increase from the 16 that had taken part in every edition since it was hosted in England in 1996.

With six groups of four teams, it means the top two will qualify for the last 16, plus the four best third-placed finishers. In other words, only eight teams will fail to qualify from the group stage.

One point could be enough to put your team into the last 16 - and from then the tournament goes to a knockout format.

The Euro 2016 draw

Group A        Group B      Group C
France           England      Germany
Romania        Russia        Ukraine
Albania           Wales        Poland
Switzerland     Slovakia    Northern Ireland
  
Group D         Group E     Group F
Spain              Belgium     Portugal
Czech Rep     Italy           Iceland
Turkey            Ireland       Austria
Croatia           Sweden     Hungary

What are the chances of a home victory?

France won the World Cup as hosts in 1998 - can they repeat the famous success of the team led by Didier Deschamps, Zinedine Zidane and Laurent Blanc?

A run into the latter stages by Les Bleus is likely to help restore national morale in a country still recovering from last year's deadly Paris attacks.

LK