It
is time to start a big countdown!. Already less than 100 days left to the start of the European Football Championship in France. Championships are organized by UEFA - at the turn of June and July 2016 – in France. The last great football tournament in the country over the Seine was held in 1998. After 18 years the great ball goes back to France. From 10 June to 10 July at 12 stadiums will be played 51 matches to choose the champion of the Old Continent.
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| www.uefa.com |
1. Cities and stadiums
Nine
cities, ten stadiums. And all because two of them are located in the French
capital - Paris. These are:
a) Stade de France which is one of the largest football stadiums in
Europe, which can accommodate over 80,000 spectators. At the stadium in Paris,
fans will see seven EURO 2016 matches, including the opening match and the
final of the tournament.
b) Parc de Princes where five EURO 2016 matches will be held, and the stands will sit 45,000 spectators. At this stadium plays Paris Saint-Germain team.
Other venues:
c) Stade Velodrome in Marseille,
c) Stade Velodrome in Marseille,
d) Stade Bordeaux Atlantique in Bordeaux,
e) Stade des Lumieres in Lyon,
f) Stadium Municipal in Toulouse,
g) Stade Felix-Bollaert in Lens,
h) Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne,
h) Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne,
i) Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille,
j) Allianz Rivera in Nice.
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| www.stadiony.net |
2. Preliminaries
The
event for
the first time will be attended by as many as 24 teams (instead of 16)-
from each qualification group were
promoted two teams and the teams from the
best third places. Other teams from
third places will be seen in play-offs.
Qualifying
for Euro 2016 took place between September 2014 and November 2015. In qualifying took part 53 national teams competing for 23 places in
the tournament. France, as the organizer of the tournament,
was qualified automatically.
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| www.laczynaspilka.pl |
France,
as the host of the tournament, was directly assigned to Group A as a first
team, all four baskets have 6 teams.
Drawing of Lots for the main tournament
The
draw was held on 12 December 2015 in Paris at the Palais des
Congrès de Paris
at 18:00. The ceremony was conducted by two eminent
players and former
champions of Europe - Ruud Gullit and Bixente Lizarazu.
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| www.uefa.com |
After
playing all group matches to
1/8 finals will qualify two teams that have won the most points in the group and four teams that finished in the 3rd place and won the most points.
For winning the match are awarded 3 points for
a draw - 1 point.
3. The mascot of championship
The
mascot is the boy with the
appearance of a superhero whose
name is SUPER VICTOR:
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| en.mascot.uefa,com |
The boy was born in a small French town. His father was a good player and he
loves to play football with friends. One day, after an unsuccessful shot, when
he was looking for a ball in bushes, he found a mysterious, old box. In it he found a cap, soccer shoes and a Championship
ball. The Items have special power.
The
aim of the creation of the mascot is to promote football as
a form of fun, learning fair play
and bring other
joy. As with previous
mascots, also a new hero will travel around
the country as part of a
promotional championship tournament.
4. My first adventure with football
I have become a football fun recently. Exactly from EURO
2012 but always at my home (despite defeats)
We persistently
cheered the Polish
football team either during championships or during ordinary matches. When I was 10 years
old my grandfather gave me my first white-red
scarf and I was wearing it during matches just to make him happy and I
pretended I was interested
in what was happening on the football pitch. But after some time I started to like it more and more. The climax was EURO
2012 organized in Poland. In Warsaw it was not possible not to feel great atmosphere
and the spirit of championships. I suppose that
even the people who are totally not interested
in football in July 2012 were not indifferent to it. Together with my friends I spent all evening in the fan zone near the Palace of Science and Culture.
Unfortunately it reflected our exam results , but it was a time when football was the
most important thing.
Preliminaries to current championships were also big events
for me. Each match with the Polish team caused
unbelievable emotions, tears and a reason to
be proud at the end. I know that we are still not the best football team and we
have a lot of to do to reach the level of our rivals like Germany or Spain.
I can’t
wait to see championships in France and I had a plan to go there to feel this
atmosphere once again but after latest sad events I think that it is too
dangerous and it’s better to stay in Poland.
Pubs in the city will be prepared for sure so in Poland I will feel this
atmosphere too.
There is nothing more like to encourage you to
keep your fingers crossed for our national football team. We proved many times
that we are the best football fans in the world. :)
Questions:
1. Are you a football fan? Are you going to follow the championship on TV? Or maybe you are going to France for the championship?
2. How would you rate the chances of the Polish team in this tournament?
3. Which team, according to you, will win EURO 2016?
Sources:
1. www.uefa.com
2. www.stadiony.net
3. www.wikipedia.pl
