UEFA Euro 2020 Main Draw

Ban

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It was miles better with 16 teams, most games involved really good sides. Too much coin on offer by letting more nations in though.
Yeah, the same with CL, the more teams they let in the worse it was. CL of 16 teams, just champions was the best imo.
 

Ramos

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Euro 2000: Portugal, Germany, England, Romania

Euro 2004: Portugal, Spain, Greece (winners), Russia

Euro 2012: Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark

Euro 2020: Portugal, Germany, France

2008 wasn't easy either with Switzerland, Czech Republic and Turkey... and meanwhile we had Germany, Brazil and Spain in World Cup groups too all while having a fairly high rating that's meant to help in the draws. It's ridiculous.
Well on the bright side if you look at the number of points you've gotten in the group stages since 2000, the worst results weren't in any of those groups but in fairly easy ones like 2002 and ironically 2016.
 

SCP

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Well if we play something similar to what we played In the 2 games against Ukraine we have no chance to qualify. We need to improve a lot, the only positive thing of being knocked out is maybe Santos will be replaced, but then somehow he will remain because they will use the quality of the group to keep him there. Ffs. :devil:
 

Peyroteo

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Well on the bright side if you look at the number of points you've gotten in the group stages since 2000, the worst results weren't in any of those groups but in fairly easy ones like 2002 and ironically 2016.
We always do well against the likes of England and Netherlands. Germany and France are a nightmare though. Pretty sure we've only won once against each of them in the past 50 years.

Also, it's a shame we didn't get Wales for the last spot in the group. Would have been the 4 semifinalists of 2016 in the same group.
 

SportingCP96

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RIP to Portugal.

Luckily third place goes through so we need to hope the last team in the group is a “guaranteed” 3 points.
 

KirkDuyt

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We always do well against the likes of England and Netherlands. Germany and France are a nightmare though. Pretty sure we've only won once against each of them in the past 50 years.

Also, it's a shame we didn't get Wales for the last spot in the group. Would have been the 4 semifinalists of 2016 in the same group.
So happy we didnt draw you lot :lol:
 

FootballHQ

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Wow that France group.

Who's the likely play off side for that out of interest.

Obviously going to be a group of death but in reality all three should qualify given a couple of 3rd places goes through to round of 16.

Edit: Decent group for England but they really need to make sure they win the group otherwise apparently they'd have to go to St Petersburg to play a quarter v France which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Baku also in play as a venue for this.
 

Samid

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How good is Norway? Better than Serbia and Scotland?
@Samid
I would say evenly matched with Serbia but better than Scotland.

We've got home advantage in both games and haven't lost at home for 3 or so years. If Ødegaard and Haaland continue their current form I think we'll take it.
 

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So Switzerland is the "lucky" team that gets to play in Baku first, then in Rome and then back in Baku in 8 days.
 

Pexbo

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Wow that France group.

Who's the likely play off side for that out of interest.

Obviously going to be a group of death but in reality all three should qualify given a couple of 3rd places goes through to round of 16.

Edit: Decent group for England but they really need to make sure they win the group otherwise apparently they'd have to go to St Petersburg to play a quarter v France which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Baku also in play as a venue for this.
What's the qualifying factor in this? My guess is something about group stage performance AKA ensure the biggest sides get a bye through to the knockouts.
 

Helder-Carvalho

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Euro 2000: Portugal, Germany, England, Romania

Euro 2004: Portugal, Spain, Greece (winners), Russia

Euro 2012: Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark

Euro 2020: Portugal, Germany, France

2008 wasn't easy either with Switzerland, Czech Republic and Turkey... and meanwhile we had Germany, Brazil and Spain in World Cup groups too all while having a fairly high rating that's meant to help in the draws. It's ridiculous.
Euro 2000 Portugal, England, Germany, Romania
 

FootballHQ

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Hang on, you can have 3 qualifiers from one group?
That's dreadful.
Was same in euro 2016. Portugal finished 3rd I'm pretty sure given they drew all the group games.

At least next Euros will have a proper host (Germany) so will cut down on the ridiculous travelling for some nations.
 

Sayros

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Shocked that so many are unaware. I mean that's how Portugal won in 2016 :lol:
To be fair, it's a relatively new concept if you're not following the Euro closely.
 

Andycoleno9

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I would say evenly matched with Serbia but better than Scotland.

We've got home advantage in both games and haven't lost at home for 3 or so years. If Ødegaard and Haaland continue their current form I think we'll take it.
Well, see you in a group then ;)
 
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elánius

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Yeah, Czech and England against each other again. Saw the last match at Prague and it was something special for us. :-)

Feel sad for Ronaldo, but last time Portugal was the luckiest team on the planet, so enjoy group of death. :-)
 

Dante

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It was miles better with 16 teams, most games involved really good sides. Too much coin on offer by letting more nations in though.
We get the same number of games between good teams, since the top sides should in theory always beat the bottom sides. And if the big guns don't win, it's their own damn fault for not showing up on the day.

The benefit of this format, the minnows have a chance to actually compete and so it helps to raise the profile of the sport in countries that would otherwise have nothing to cheer about over the summer.

Other than prolonging the tournament by a game or two, I think the positives massively outweigh the negatives. And, imo, more football is always a good thing outside of the regular season.
 

Ramos

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Wow that France group.

Who's the likely play off side for that out of interest.

Obviously going to be a group of death but in reality all three should qualify given a couple of 3rd places goes through to round of 16.

Edit: Decent group for England but they really need to make sure they win the group otherwise apparently they'd have to go to St Petersburg to play a quarter v France which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Baku also in play as a venue for this.
Well it's winner of Bulgaria vs Hungary against winner of Iceland Vs Romania.

My money would probably be on Hungary. Which would make group F even more interesting because they will have 2 home games.

If Romania qualify they won't join this group and it will be one of the minnows instead.
 

FootballHQ

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Iceland would be stubborn to break down but other three would be pretty straightforward I think. Ultimately way the 3 will be looking is if they don't beat the play off winner it will be struggle to make KO round particularly Portugal.
 

Cheech Wizard

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England are better off finishing 2nd in their group. Winning their group means playing runner-up of Group F which could be either France/Germany/Portugal..
I know but it’s got facepalm written all over it, thought the same in WC until we met Croatia.
 

Zlatan 7

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We get the same number of games between good teams, since the top sides should in theory always beat the bottom sides. And if the big guns don't win, it's their own damn fault for not showing up on the day.

The benefit of this format, the minnows have a chance to actually compete and so it helps to raise the profile of the sport in countries that would otherwise have nothing to cheer about over the summer.

Other than prolonging the tournament by a game or two, I think the positives massively outweigh the negatives. And, imo, more football is always a good thing outside of the regular season.
agree with all this post, the more football the better, the stronger teams will progress and play each other if they deserve to.

cant believe people are moaning about the extra teams in it already.

tough group for us Welsh, was always going to be really, got a chance to progress though which is all we can ask for.

gotta laugh at the sky presenters/ commentators already saying we have an easier group than England
 

Ecstatic

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Time for France to get his revenge against Portugal (Euro2016) and Germany (2014) :devil:
 

Gio

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Wish they kept Euro with 16 teams.. This format is dumb.
Aye. All the 16-team Euro competitions from 2000 through to 2012 were cracking tournaments full of entertaining and meaningful games. 2016 was too bloated and barely broke out of the flabby rhythm that ground through the group stages. And the absence of a host nation for 2020 will undermine the sense of identity, character and provenance that marks the best summer tournaments.
 

marktan

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Aye. All the 16-team Euro competitions from 2000 through to 2012 were cracking tournaments full of entertaining and meaningful games. 2016 was too bloated and barely broke out of the flabby rhythm that ground through the group stages. And the absence of a host nation for 2020 will undermine the sense of identity, character and provenance that marks the best summer tournaments.
I prefer it with 24. Gives more of a chance to the smaller European nations to qualify, some like Finland for the first time. With 16 it's a bit too exclusive for me.
 

rcoobc

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Personally I think the 16 team tournaments just as boring.

Group Stages are always quite dull even when all 4 teams are strong, then you are left with just 7 knock-out games. At least with the 24 team tourney, you get 15 knock-out matches.

Euro 2016 had some great surprises; Wales, Iceland, etc. The big downside for me is that the big hitters all ended up on the same side of the draw: Italy, Germany, France and Spain (same as happened in the last World Cup actually).

There are some real issues with the "4 best third-placed teams" going through though. Albania finished their final group game on 19th April. They found out they had been knocked out on the 22nd April. Actually that's going to be the same problem in the 48 team World Cup, teams finishing their final game and not finding out if they've been knocked out for another week.

Also Portugal played their final group game on the 22nd June and played their first knock-out game on the 25th June. A bit annoying for them, although they won the thing so who cares.
 

Ed9

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Not exciting EURO at all.
Anyway, 1. England, 2./3. Czechia/Croatia
Easy group.
 

Red Star One

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I actually think this will be exciting. Tough group for Poland, Spain are in my eyes one of big favourites and I think we won against them only once, Sweden also not a good opponent for us, with Brzęczek at helm I'm afraid we'll be out rather soon. Unpopular opinion - I think it many host nations one-off idea will be quite a blast and whole Europe will live EURO like never before. Should be a fun tournament with many very strong teams, arguably better than four years ago - France, Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy could all well win it for me.
 
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Hubal

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Finally got to know what games I got tickets for. It's Italy vs Wales in Rome so the host atmosphere is going to be nuts, can't wait to see Bale, Giggsy and James too :drool:
It gets more tricky with the other game, most probably the Netherlands against some 3rd place team, can't really complain. Bring it on baby
 

Gio

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I prefer it with 24. Gives more of a chance to the smaller European nations to qualify, some like Finland for the first time. With 16 it's a bit too exclusive for me.
Yeah I don’t mind the next tier of countries coming in, many of whom were the bright lights of 2016. And it’s the only realistic hope of third tier teams like Scotland joining the party. It’s more the clean qualification that goes to pot and it ends up a mishmash of some 3rd place teams qualifying, some not, and a fortnight to shed just 8 teams out of 24.
 

rcoobc

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Yeah I don’t mind the next tier of countries coming in, many of whom were the bright lights of 2016. And it’s the only realistic hope of third tier teams like Scotland joining the party. It’s more the clean qualification that goes to pot and it ends up a mishmash of some 3rd place teams qualifying, some not, and a fortnight to shed just 8 teams out of 24.
I think after a World Cup, you could make a strong argument for a 6-month break from International games. The pinnacle of International Football has come and gone, and everyone needs a break.

Then come in with a shortened qualifying campaign. 12 groups of 4/5, group winner goes through, best x runners up go through plus worst runners up go into the play-off (whatever is required to make numbers work).

So if Summer 2018 is the World Cup, have no Internationals until March 2019, and complete the group stage by November.

Short group stages for the Euros, long ones for the World Cups.

I'm not a fan of this Nations League milarky.
 

JMack1234

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England will be playing one of Germany, Portugal or France in the Round of 16 in Dublin.

...... oh boy