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The upcoming European Championship is the 15th edition of the continental tournament. It will be hosted by France and will see the host nation and Romania kick-off the tournament on 10th June at the national stadium of France in Saint-Denis. On May 28, 2010, France won the right to host Euro 2016 ahead of Turkey and Italy after the completion of the bidding process. Here is the necessary information about the tournament in France including the Euro 2016 format.
Venues: Euro 2016 cities and stadiums
Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne, and Toulouse are the ten cities that will host the games over the course of the month in what is the third European championship due to be held in France following the 1960 and 1984 editions. The winner of the tournament will earn the right to represent Europe at the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017.
Change in Format
The tournament, which was limited to 16 teams until its last edition that was jointly-hosted by Poland and Ukraine in 2012, has now been extended to 24 teams, giving some of the lesser teams a chance to shine at one of the biggest stages in world football. According to the Euro 2016 format, teams have been divided into six groups of four teams each and each group will have its winner and runner-up qualify directly to the round of 16, making it a total of 12 teams. The four best third-ranked sides would also progress bringing the count of teams in the first knockout round to 16. After that there will be quarter-finals, the two semi-finals before the summit clash on 10th July at the Stade de France. The tournament will see a total of 51 games being played across the length and breadth of the host nation.
Official Slogan, Song and Match Ball
Le Rendez-Vous is the official slogan of the tournament that will see the winners hoist the Henry Delaunay trophy. In November 2014, Super Victor was revealed to be the official mascot of the tournament.
Adidas Beau Jeu is the name of the match ball that will be used during the tournament and it was unveiled by the current Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane last November.
David Guetta will record the official Euro 2016 song and he is calling 1 million fans to record and be a part of #ThisOnesForYou. Sneak peak to the official song.
Record with David Guetta and you could win tickets to UEFA EURO 2016! Here’s the link.
Euro 2016 will also become the first European Championship to employ the goal line technology to decide if the ball crossed the goal line.
Wasi is a keen fan with loads of knowledge about the game. He has written for some of the world’s leading soccer websites and is a major Barcelona and Pune City FC fan. He loves the Champions League and watches 200+ EPL games & La Liga games per season.