The Euro 2012 Groups each consist of four teams, with eight sides going through to play in the quarter finals of Euro 2012
The European Championships take place this summer in Ukraine and Poland and begin with the opening match between the Poles and 2004 European Champions Greece in Warsaw on June 8th.
The tournament features 16 teams who start in four groups of four before progressing to quarter finals, semi finals and a final, each of which is played over a single leg.
The
Euro 2012 groups have already been decided and the matches and fixture list is therefore already known. The first group, Group A, contains Poland, Greece, Russia and Czech Republic and is, according to FIFA’s ratings the weakest of the four.
The strongest of the Euro 2012 groups – officially at least – is Group B, which features Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Denmark. These sides are ranked 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 11th in the world. This section is undoubtedly the ‘Euro 2012 group of death’ and many people think that the winner will come from Group B.
Reigning champions Spain have been given what looks, on paper, to be a relatively straight-forward Euro 2012 group. Vicente Del Bosque’s side have been drawn against Italy, Croatia and Republic of Ireland in Group C and it would be something of a shock if the World and European champions dropped any points in their opening three matches.
The picture is less clear in Euro 2012 Group D where England, France, Sweden and Ukraine meet. Ukraine may be the hosts but they are fairly easy to discount but Sweden have a number of talented players, not least AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and they will be dangerous opponents. France have been steadily improving under Laurent Blanc and England, despite question marks over the manager, have a squad full of household names with Champions League experience.
Two teams progress from each of the four Euro 2012 groups and qualify for the quarter finals of the tournament. The structure is similar to that of previous European Championships in that the winner of Group A plays the runner-up of Group B and so on.
As far as the
Euro 2012 Fixtures are concerned, the winner of the first quarter final will then play the winner of the third quarter final ensuring that two sides who met in the Euro 2012 groups cannot meet again until the final of the tournament. This will be good news for both Germany manager Joachim Low and Netherlands boss Bert Van Marwijk.
