The draw for Euro 2020 was made on Saturday, November 30th, 2019. After it, England are running as the 4/1 outright favourites to take success next summer. They do have some home advantage running at the tournament as they will be playing hosts in their group. But there, of course, will be stiff challenges to come.
There are still four spots at the finals to be confirmed. That will be completed in March when the play offs are done and dusted. Northern Ireland, Ireland and Scotland will be in action in the play offs trying to book a place at next summer’s finals. As for the 20 nations already qualified, there is a fairly clear picture ahead for them.
Here we take a look at Euro 2020.
Euro 2020 Winner Odds*
England 4/1
France 13/2
Belgium 5/1
Spain 8/1
Germany 9/1
Netherlands 13/2
Italy 9/1
Portugal 16/1
Croatia 25/1
Denmark 80/1
Bar 100/1
*( Betting odds taken from bet365 on November 30th, 2019 at 4:57 pm)
Tournament Information
It is the 60th anniversary of the UEFA European Championships. To celebrate, UEFA dedicated to complicate the matter by having 12 different host nations of the event. It will be 24 nations taking part in the finals, with Portugal being the ones who will be defending their crown.
Six groups of four teams in a round-robin format will be played out. The top two teams from each of those groups will automatically move ahead to the round of sixteen. Joining them there will be the four best third-placed teams.
Group A
Turkey, Italy, Wales & Switzerland
Hos Cities: Rome and Baku
This looks as if it will be a very competitive group. Wales won’t be unhappy at the lot which they have drawn at all in this one. The one factor that isn’t in their favour, however, is the location of their games. They will be out in Baku to face Switzerland and Turkey before heading to Rome to face off against Italy. That’s a lot of travel to get through for them. With home advantage, Italy will be expected to progress.
Turkey put together a very good qualification campaign and almost had the beating of France to top spot in their section. So they look as if they could shape up competitively well in the group. Then there is Switzerland who did top out their Euro 2020 qualification group ahead of Denmark and Ireland. They weren’t particularly strong on their travels, however. Italy and Turkey look the strongest contenders here, but they all look as if they could take points off each other on their day.
Group B
Denmark, Finland, Belgium & Russia
Host Cities: Copenhagen, St Petersburg
Belgium will be heavily backed to win Group B. They are 5/1 outright to win Euro 2020 and have such a woefully talented squad*( Betting odds taken from bet365 on November 30th, 2019 at 4:57 pm). Belgium won all ten of their qualification matches. They don’t have home advantage, however, but Belgium should occupy one of the two automatic qualification spots, leaving Russia and Denmark to battle it out. Russia finished behind Belgium in qualifying, winning 8 of 10, the only losses happening in their two games against Belgium. Finland are making their European Championship debut. There really is not going to be any easy points on offer for them here. Denmark qualified unbeaten in their group, a point behind Switzerland. It is the Danes who could spring a surprise over the Russians when they host them.
Group C
Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria & Winner of Play Off Path D/A
Host Cities: Amsterdam, Bucharest
The Dutch get home soil advantage in their Group C challenge. This was a big moment for the Netherlands getting back to a major final after missing the previous European Championships and last year’s World Cup. They look to be in a good enough place to qualify from the group, but the interesting team here is Ukraine. Ukraine were fantastic in their qualification campaign and they have been going along well for the last 18 months or so. They will be a threat. Austria were vulnerable on the road during their qualification campaign, losing in Israel and Latvia. That will make them an unreliable pick for punters. If Romania wins Path A of the playoffs, they will go to this group because of Bucharest being a host city for this section. Otherwise, it will be the winner of Path D which would be one of Georgia, Belarus, North Macedonia or Kosovo.
Group D
England, Croatia, Czech Republic & Winner Play Off Path C
Host Cities: London, Glasgow
England will be playing all of their matches at Wembley which naturally should give them a bit of a leg up. The Three Lions are 4/1 outright favourites to win Euro 2020 following the draw*( Betting odds taken from bet365 on November 30th, 2019 at 4:57 pm). Once again they will be lining up against Croatia. The Croatians won that epic World Cup semi-final against England last year, but then the Three Lions got some revenge against them in the Nations League, taking four points against them.
Croatia won their Euro 2020 qualification group ahead of Wales. They will carry a tidy, consistent threat to England’s dominance in the group. The Czech Republic will be there as well. They lost 5-0 at Wembley during Euro 2020 qualification but took a surprise win on home soil over the Three Lions. There is a possibility that Scotland would be joining the fray through the playoffs and they would get home games. The other nations on Path C of the play offs are Israel, Norway and Serbia. Incidentally, if England win their group, they will face the runner-up of Group F. Group F has Portugal, France and Germany in it.
Group E
Spain, Sweden, Poland, Winner Play Off Path B
Host Cities: Bilbao, Dublin
Spain are at 8/1 to win Euro 2020 outright*( Betting odds taken from bet365 on November 30th, 2019 at 4:57 pm). This is a good draw for them and they should be getting past the challenge in front of them, especially with home soil advantage. Spain met Sweden in the qualifiers and it was four points that the Spaniards took from the two meetings. In the meeting in Spain, it was a 3-0 win over the Swedes that the Spaniards collected. Poland won their qualification group with 8 wins out of 10. It should be an interesting battle between them and Poland, with neither at home, to see who pushes for that second qualification place. Play Off Path B contains Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Ireland. The winner of that will go to Group E.
Group F
Portugal, France, Germany and Winner Play Off A/D
Host Cities: Munich, Budapest
The most interesting group to come out of the Euro 2020 draw? Probably. Here you have the reigning European champions Portugal, lining up against World Champions France and Germany joining the party as well. After their group stage exit at the World Cup last year, Germany will be keen to make some serious progress this summer. This is some draw that they have landed in here.
Because of the competitive nature of this group, with the potential of one of the big guns of the tournament falling, there are actually some good prices on these nations in the Euro 2020 outright. France are 13/2 second-favourites to win Euro 2020*( Betting odds taken from bet365 on November 30th, 2019 at 4:57 pm) and given their status in the world game, that’s understandable.
They will have some early tests of character here, however, especially not being at home. Portugal not only are the European Championship, but they won the Nations League earlier this year as well. Germany did re-establish themselves well during their Euro 2020 qualification campaign and have been fairly solid since their World Cup 2018 crash. Will all three squeeze through or will one big name tumble?
If Iceland, Bulgaria or Romania win Play Off Path A, they will go to Group F at Euro 2020. If it’s Romania who wins Path A, they go to Group A (because Bucharest is a host city there) and the winner of Play Off Path D instead joins Group F. Whoever ends up in this group are going to be feeling pretty disappointed.
