The draw for the Euro 2016 group stage was made on Saturday, December 12th and now nations can start preparing properly as they know who they will be facing, when they will be facing them and where they will be facing their group opponents.
Euro 2016 is hosted by France and will be played across ten different locations from Lille and Lens in the north through to the exotic play grounds of Nice and Marseille on the Mediterranean coast in the south. The final itself, what will be the 51st match of the competition, will be played at the Stade de France, Saint Denis and that is where the action all starts as well, when host nation France take on Romania in the tournament opener on June 10th.
There are six groups of four teams as the tournament has expanded into twenty-four competitors for the first time ever. That means of course that there is an extra game needing to be won on the path to success for whoever is crowned European champions at the end of the campaign. The top two from each Euro 2016 group will move through to the group stage automatically, while the four best third-placed teams will make their way through to the round of sixteen.
So there’s a pretty good chance of getting through of course with only eight nations dropping out after the group stage.
Euro 2016 Group A
France, Romania, Albania and Switzerland
It wasn’t a bad draw for the hosts France at all here. It will be a shocker if they didn’t get out of this one. The French are 1/2 favourites to move out of their group as winners and it should be a race for second place behind them. Switzerland are arguably their biggest threat in the Group A and frankly how easily England handled them in the qualifiers, even that shouldn’t be too much for them to handle. Albania, who are at their first major finals are 28/1 outside shots to shock everyone and win the group. Romania aren’t likely to offer a lot of opposition and it should be between them and Albania for third.
Euro 2016 Group B
England, Russia, Wales, Slovakia
England went as the top seeds in Group B and then pulled out Wales as the second team in their group to face. Russia and Slovakia fill in the holes. Wales weren’t keen on drawing England, at least boss Chris Coleman wasn’t because of the distractions over the Battle of Britain which it will be labelled as. That will be the second game in the group for both. Russia are a tricky side to handle and are the clear dark horses in the group, even though they finished a long way behind Austria in qualifying. But gutsy points against Sweden in qualifying helped them through, they should join England in the next round. Wales may have to grab a point against one of them on top of a win over Slovakia to edge through. England are 5/4 to top the group with Russia at 4/1, while Wales are even money to qualify.
Euro 2016 Group C
Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Northern Ireland
Germany head up the seeds in Group C and they get a mouthwatering clash against Poland. The two were together in qualifying for the finals and the Poles managed to earn a win against die Mannschaft. Because of the goals of Robert Lewandowski, the Poles will carry a threat and should qualify easily from the group. The Ukraine aren’t a bad side, in a bit of a transition though and are likely to earn third spot ahead of Northern Ireland. The Irish didn’t get a great draw here at all in the finals after all their hard worth through qualifying. Tough, draw and they are a the group outsiders with Germany at 6/11 to win the group.
Euro 2016 Group D
Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia
This is one of those major tournament groups which on paper looks as if it will be a bit of a straight forward dull affair with double reigning champions Spain cruising to top spot. They are 6/5 to do so, but there are some tricky challenges coming in from Croatia, who are a technically gifted side and the Czech Republic who topped their qualification group over the likes of Holland and Turkey. The Czech’s will get reunited with Turkey in the group but they aren’t a defensively sound unit so that will put their qualification hopes at risk. The Spaniards should qualify easily enough but there could be an entertaining battle for positions in the group nonetheless because of defensive weakness amongst the other nations. It could be one of the more intense, tightly contested groups.
Euro 2016 Group E
Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Sweden
The Republic of Ireland probably won’t be too disappointed with their draw. They are trading at 23/10 to qualify. On the surface of things, getting drawn in a group alongside Italy and Sweden would seem a pretty tough thing, but there’s not much for the Irish to be afraid of here. Yes, the game against Belgium is going to be their toughest and the Red Devils are likely to deliver on their 13/10 favouritism to top the group, but the Italy aren’t a big threat and can be picked off and if you keep Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet then you always have a chance against the Swedes. Really right group in this one with Italy at 2/5 and Sweden at 6/4 to qualify.
Euro 2016 Group F
Portugal, Iceland, Austria, Hungary
Portugal are top seeds in Euro 2016 Group F and they are 6/5 to finish as winners. They had such an easy group in qualifying though and made hard work of it that it may be worth looking towards Austria to pull off a group win at 11/4. The Austrians were the surprise package of qualifying, their positive play landing them top place in their qualifying group over Russia and Sweden. They should join Portugal in the next round leaving a scrap between Iceland and Hungary for the spoils of third. Not much to choose between them, but Iceland turned in some impressive performances in their tough qualification group. You can see a lot drawn matches being played out in this group.
Euro 2016 Outright Winner Odds
Germany are running as 10/3 outright favourites for Euro 2016 with host nation France at 11/4 behind them. Reigning European Champions Spain are 9/2 and that makes up the numbers for nations currently priced under double figure in Euro 2016 outright betting.
Germany 10/3, France 11/4, Spain 9/2, England 10/1, Belgium 12/1, Portugal 16/1, Italy 20/1, Croatia 25/1, Austria 33/1, 66/1 bar
Euro 2016 Top Goalscorer Odds
There will be a dazzling array of attacking talent on show at Euro 2016 and it is usually whoever gets off to the quickest start will get closest to the Golden Boot. Another key factor is looking at a player on a team who is likely to go deep in the contest. The brilliant Thomas Muller is 6/1 early favourite in the Euro 2016 Top Goalscorer market, following by the scoring talent of Cristiano Ronaldo at 7/1. Surprisingly on France’s Antoine Griezmann comes in at 8/1 in single figures then leading the chasing pack is Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku at 12/1, Olivier Giroud at 14/1 and Poland’s Robert Lewandowski at 16/1. At Euro 2012 six players (including Ronaldo) finished with 3 goals each as top scorers. England’s Wayne Rooney is a massive 40/1 poke, with Harry Kane shorter at 33/1.
