The Euro 2016 group stage draw will take place this Saturday and will put the national teams of the countries shown in blue on the map below into 6 groups, with each group containing 4 teams.



Each group with contain 1 team from the following pots.

Pot 1:
Metropolitan France (In Group A automatically as hosts)
Germany
Spain
England
Portugal
Belgium

Pot 2:
Italy
Russia
Switzerland
Austria
Croatia
Ukraine

Pot 3:
Czech Republic
Sweden
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Hungary

Pot 4:
Turkey
Ireland
Iceland
Wales
Albania
Northern Ireland

So whichever group Italy gets put in is the group of death. Let's hope for en exciting tournament in June.

Edit: corrected the name of France

Edited 12/8/2015 16:57:27

Really looking forward to Euro 2016. Really excited about the inclusion of Albania and Iceland...hope they give us some upsets early.

Also secretly hoping that Turkey faces Russia and has their asses kicked (but I'll live with Ukraine vs. Russia too). Never hurts to add some geopolitical rivalry to international soccer :)


2 questions for everyone:

1) Who is your pick to win?
2) Which Pot 1 or Pot 2 team will fail to exit the group stages??

Ukraine and Austria will struggle to get through the group

Ireland and Northern Ireland seriously ahah what a joke.

Portugal won't make it either.....one man team.

but I'll live with Ukraine vs. Russia too

Sadly, they're both in pot 2, so we'll have to wait for the knockout rounds to see if they ever play each other at the Euros.

1) Who is your pick to win?

I want England to win, but I don't think that will happen. I think it'll be semi-finals at best, but more realistically it'll be a quarter-final exit. Germany will probably end up winning.

2) Which Pot 1 or Pot 2 team will fail to exit the group stages?

It depends upon the draw. You also have to bare in mind that four 3rd placed teams also get a place in the 2nd round. However, if a team from pots 1 or 2 draw Sweden and Turkey from pots 3 and 4, then they might struggle.

Ukraine and Austria will struggle to get through the group

Austria topped their qualifying group, so don't be so quick to write off their chances. Ukraine always seem to trouble the big teams as well. If either of those teams were to draw Portugal, Hungary and Northern Ireland, then you might not feel so confident about that.

Ireland and Northern Ireland seriously ahah what a joke.

How?

Portugal won't make it either.....one man team.

And that one man is probably the best player at the tournament. Also, don't be so quick to write of the rest of Portugal's squad. Just because they aren't at the same level as Ronaldo, doesn't mean they aren't quality players.

How?

http://www.eff-fvf.eus/pub/home.asp?idioma=eu

http://fcf.cat/

Then add them both to the Euro championship would you.




Any of these teams could defeat this joke of Northern Ireland football team. At least in Rugby they had the decency to make just one team for Ireland (comprising Eire and Ulster).


I still dont get why non UK independent nations such as NI, Scotland or Wales have the right to play in international competitions whereas others got no recognition, you just dont let other independent and recognized nations to play UEFA (3 potential teams could play instead of these 3 British territories).

Because the first 2 international teams were England and Scotland in 1872. Wales became the 3rd national team in 1876.

Northern Ireland is a bit different because there was 1 team for the whole island of Ireland prior to Irish independence. In rugby, they carried on playing as 1 team. In football, they initially carried on as 1 team briefly, with the Irish FA based in Belfast. However, many Irishmen thought the team selection was being biased towards Northern Irish players, so they formed another FA in Dublin. Both of FAs claimed to represent the whole island of Ireland. It wasn't until 1945 that FIFA stepped in to rename the Irish FA in Belfast Northern Ireland and the Irish FA based in Dublin the Republic of Ireland.

There has never been a UK national team in UEFA, so it would be stupid to join together now, especially as none of the 4 UK teams are in favour of it. This is why the only times there's been a UK team at the Olympics were in 1908, 1956 and 2012, the years the UK hosted the Olympics so automatically qualified. There's no mechanism for a UK team to qualify when all 4 nations compete separately.

If you're going to throw every non-sovereign state out of UEFA, then you have to throw out France as well because the French national team only represents Metropolitan France (i.e. the part of France in Europe) and doesn't represent French Guiana, Réunion, Guadeloupe, etc. who have their own national teams.

Edited 12/8/2015 13:43:47

This is past Clement, back when only British teams existed. Fortunately during the Olympic games (as the French revived it) non recognized nations arent allowed to play, that's why only the UK team as a whole only can be represented there.
Now, Football is a international game, if you allow some random non recognized nations, then obviously other non participating unrecognized nation would have to participate, that's why I hope these teams would be removed in the near future, or in the contrary then, allow any nations to participate such as Catalonia or Flanders.

Fortunately during the Olympic games (as the French revived it) non recognized nations arent allowed to play

That's not true. Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Cook Islands, Guam and American Samoa are members of the IOC and can compete at the Olympics.

Now, Football is a international game, if you allow some random non recognized nations, then obviously other non participating unrecognized nation would have to participate, that's why I hope these teams would be removed in the near future, or in the contrary then, allow any nations to participate such as Catalonia or Flanders.

Merging the 4 UK FAs would also run into various problems. How would you reallocated the Champions League places? How would you go about merging the 23 tiers in England, the 6 tiers in Scotland, the 11 tiers in Wales and the 7 tiers in Northern Ireland? How would you decide which teams go into which tier? How would you sort out the cup competitions? Replacing the English FA Cup (the oldest competition in the world) with a British FA Cup would not be popular.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system#The_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_football_league_system#Men.27s_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_football_league_system#Current_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_football_league_system#The_current_system

What does UEFA stand to gain by forcing the merge of 4 FAs that don't want to be merged? Do they really want to risk losing Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City from their precious Champions League and Europa League?

As for splitting up other countries, how would you split the UEFA coefficient points? How would you split various assets such as national stadiums, between the various FAs? Forcing mergers or splitting up other nations are non-starters and would quickly run into legal barriers.

Also, fuck supporting a UK national team, no one would watch that.

Edited 12/8/2015 14:27:07

Portugal haven't performed since the greats of Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Futre and Deco retired. Inconsistent shite comes to mind when Portugal is mentioned. They barely qualified in arguably the worst group.

The only one that should be merged is the Welsh league as the main teams are either in the Premier league or the football league Eg. Swansea and Cardiff. Just out of curiosity Clement who do you support ?

Portugal haven't performed since the greats of Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Futre and Deco retired. Inconsistent shite comes to mind when Portugal is mentioned. They barely qualified in arguably the worst group.

They got out of the group containing Germany and the Netherlands last time around and only went out on penalties to Spain in the semi-final. They capable of going far even though it's highly unlikely they'll win it.

The only one that should be merged is the Welsh league as the main teams are either in the Premier league or the football league Eg. Swansea and Cardiff.

There's no need to force Cardiff and Swansea to play in the Welsh system. They've been playing in the English system since before Wales had its own league. Football clubs playing in a different country's league to the country to the one they're based in is nothing new: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_association_football_clubs_playing_in_the_league_of_another_country

Just out of curiosity Clement who do you support ?

Bournemouth

Edited 12/8/2015 15:45:11

Portugal is a one man team? When was the last time you even saw a Portugal game? Never?

How's life under Eddie Howe ?

@ Ragnarok they was ghastly in the World Cup and the Euro qualifiers

I totally agree with Ragnarok here, Portugal has a real potential, as much or even more than teams such as England or Italy (if you just take in count their weak performances in the last world cup or during recent international games).
As for your answer Clement your answer about Chelsea or MU is totally not right, I even don't see any relationships between it and national teams, I really don't care tbh if MU or the other club you mentioned paying their expensive players with billions of dollars stolen by the Russian Mafioso Abramovich to his people back in the 90s when Russia was in a complete mess, they can be out of the Champions league I would not care that much.

Last but not least, the many states you evoked participating in the Olympiads have actually more reasons to participate in international competitions since they are closer to what we could define as an independent state (taking example of HK): A totally independent political and economical system, a different currency, customs and different visa procedures (personally experienced it while I went to China 2 years ago). So again your arguments aren't valid.

How's life under Eddie Howe ?

Better than it's ever been.

I even don't see any relationships between it and national teams

Simple, a member association of UEFA organises both the national team and the domestic league. Every member of UEFA can enter it's national team into the Euros and club teams that play in that member's domestic league can enter the Champions League or the Europa League. http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/

If a country is a sovereign state or not is irrelevant, what matters is if a country has membership of UEFA. Catalonia and Basque did not gain UEFA or FIFA membership, but Spain did. Just like the UK did not gain UEFA or FIFA membership, but England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland did separately. What matters is the membership requirements at the time of joining, not the membership requirements that changed after already joining.

they can be out of the Champions league I would not care that much.

UEFA certainly would. The Champions League is UEFA's biggest source of income.

But if this is what you want, UEFA should also ban your Metropolitan France team from competing as well.

Portugal has a well-rounded squad but they seriously lack depth on the bench. Carvalho and Bernardo Silva make a good center mid pairing. But their defense is shoddy at best....the only quality players there are Soares and Pepe (and the latter is in a real decline).

Wow, Angry Koala supporting Basques? That is something new, lol

Portugal is not that bad, but they lack a real squad, because everyone plays just for Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no real team play.

I bet the winner will be Spain (obviouly clear :3). Now really, I think the other finalist will be Germany, and the semifinalists France (as they are hosts) and Italy, if they don't match theirselves before.