PROVIDING YOU WITH ALL THE BEST BETS
The UEFA Euro Championships and hotting up, as qualifying continues and the minds of pundits and fans everywhere are turning to who might be the winner of the preeminent footballing competition between the nations of Europe.
In this article, we’ll be breaking down the favorites, those teams that look set to mount the best challenge against those favorites, and the black horses who look like they might upset the competition.
The Euro 2020 Favorites
Portugal
The current Euro Champions, Portugal will have a tough time holding on to the trophy, with strong challenges from France, Germany, and England. Their qualification didn’t get off to the best of starts, with two draws in their Group B.
After this early wake-up call, Cristiano Ronaldo´s side seems to have kicked it into a higher gear, with a handy 4-2 over Serbia in Belgrade and a 5-1 thrashing of Lithuania. Their star player, and five-time Ballon d´Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals across those two games, bringing his international tally up to 93 goals and proving once again that he is a danger to any of the other teams in Europe.
France
Having won the World Cup, France is now on the hunt for victory in Europe. This wouldn´t be the first time that Les Bleus have taken the double, having lifted the World Cup and the European Championship as recently as 2000.
Having won the Euros twice and with the title of the best football team in the world so recently earned, France will be looking to score a third Euro win and pull level with neighbors Germany and Spain in terms of total championships won.
Despite being the current favorites to win, however, France stumbled to a drawn against Turkey, denying them the chance for early qualification in a game mired in political controversy.
England
After bring led to an outstanding fourth place in the World Cup, Gareth Southgate’s team has respectable 9/2 odds to win the Euros. While their qualification group hasn’t included any real challengers, England has still racked up a series of impressive high-scoring wins, going 5-0 against the Czech Republic, 5-1 against Montenegro, 4-0 against Bulgaria, and 5-3 against Kosovo.
Currently, the Lions are three points clear of the second-place Czech Republic with a game in hand, making qualification look all but inevitable.
Unfortunately, the news isn’t so good for the rest of the UK, with Scotland’s recent 4-0 loss to Belgium leaving them swimming with minnow San Marine at the bottom of Group I.
Despite being led by the legendary Ryan Giggs, Wales have struggled in their qualifying campaign so far, losing to Hungary and Croatia and also just scraping past Azerbaijan, with Oddschecker giving minnows Slovakia, who have five more goals than Wales in this campaign, 7-1 odds to put the Dragons out of Euro 2020.
Spain
Fired up by the goal of winning their fourth Euro title and becoming the most successful team to take part in the UEFA European Championships, Spain is cruising through their group stages, having won all five of their games and only conceded three goals.
Italy
Italy find themselves in much the same position as Spain, having won all six of their qualification games with only one small stumble, a close 2-1 victory over Finland that was only secured by a Jorginho penalty.
Germany
Germany will be wanting to wash the taste of a disastrous World Cup out of their mouth with a win at the European Championships. Joachim Low’s side went from favorites to the disgrace of a group stage exit, having failed to win so much as one of their four qualification games.
They seem to have bounced back and are now leading Group C, although things are far from assured with both the Netherlands and, surprisingly, Northern Ireland, who they are currently drawing with on points, pushing for qualification.
The Netherlands
Having not qualified for the last two European Championships, Holland will be looking to make their mark on this one. Headed by Virgil van Dijk, The Netherlands has some impressive players in their stable, but have so far failed to capitalize on their talent, only just moving up to second in Group C.
The Euro 2020 Dark Horses
Northern Ireland
Tiny Northern Ireland has romped through Group C, having won their first four games, with their only loss being a respectable 2-0 defeat to Germany. While their recent 3-1 defeat against The Netherlands certainly disappointed the fans, it has not totally ruined their chances of qualification.
Because of how the playoff system works, Northern Ireland can still make the Euros even if they don’t win their next two games against The Netherlands and Germany, which seems like a bit of a big ask.
While it seems unlikely that Northern Ireland has much chance of winning the competition, they could put either Germany or The Netherlands in a difficult position with a surprise win.
Croatia
Having come in as runners-up in the World Cup, Croatia has proved that their team is more than capable of threatening the big boys in the European stage. Currently, they are comfortably at the head of Group E and will represent a hard-fought match for any of the current favorites.
Champions in Europe
With so many teams looking to bounce back from disappointing performances in the World Cup, this European Championships looks set to be a hard-fought one, with many teams in place to challenge for the trophy.
While France, England, and Portugal might be the favorites, teams like Germany, Italy, Spain, and The Netherlands are not going to just let them win without earning it, while teams like Northern Ireland and Croatia have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
And, if the World Cup has taught us anything, it is that being one of the big footballing nations of Europe is far from a free pass through the qualification rounds of a competition as hotly contested as the Euros.