Looking at the Euro 2012 tournament
The UEFA Euro 2012 Finals will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The tournament is the final one to be sixteen teams as the following one in 2016 will increase to twenty-four teams. Poland and Ukraine defeated Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to hold the competition.
The games will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish venues to host games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian towns will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
The final will take place in Kiev which will also host a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after development will be one of the premier stadia and sporting complexes in the world. The new arena in Warsaw is also being built and guarantees to be a state of the art venue.
The draw for the tournament has already been done and qualifying games will begin just after the World Cup in South Africa. Every one of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will get direct entry into the competition. Following that the remaining 8 runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.
From Group A you would say Germany and Turkey would be too formidable with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.Group B looks to be a 3 way contest between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
In Group C it looks like it will be fairly simple for Italy and Serbia. France is the favorite from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take 2nd.
There is a northern European vibe to Group E where it really should be Netherlands and Sweden.
Croatia and Greece are the favorites with regards to Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.
From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and lastly from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.
Qualifying ends in October 2011 by which time enthusiasm and anticipation for the Euro 2012 Championships will be well and truly underway.
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