By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
We are now less than 48 hours away from the start of EURO
2016. 24 teams head to France to compete in the biggest European Championships
in history. They will contest 51 matches during the next four weeks to see who
will become the kings of European football.
Hosts France, holders Spain and world champions Germany
start as clear favourites whilst Slovakia, Albania and Iceland are among the
teams who will be competing at the finals for the very first time.
So, how well do you know your stats? Time for me to pick out
some information that might come in handy in work offices, pub quizzes and
house parties over the next month…
Russia were the only team in qualifying to have 0 goals scored by players with their heads.
The Czech Republic kept a total of 0
clean sheets in qualifying and conceded the most goals of any team that has
made the final 24.
In 2012, Spain became the 1st
team ever to retain the Henri Delaunay trophy. No-one has ever won it 3 times
in a row.
Christian Benteke scored only 1
goal in EURO 2016 qualifying and that was vs. Cyprus. It is unlikely he will
start Belgium’s tournament campaign in France.
Romania have only won 1 match at
European finals previously and that came against England at EURO 2000.
Belgium are the highest-ranked team competing at EURO 2016.
They are 2nd in the current FIFA World
Rankings. World champions Germany are two places below them.
The ‘Golden Goal’ format settled 2
consecutive European Championship finals (1996 and 2000).
Austria dropped only 2 points in EURO
2016 qualifying.
Russia competed under 3 different
names in 3 successive tournaments. They were the Soviet Union in 1988, known as
CIS in 1992 and finally under the current country name in EURO 96.
Polish midfielder Slawomir Peszko has 4
kidneys! He was diagnosed with duplex kidneys back in 2011 and has a condition
that affects one in every 5.5m people.
5 finals in
European Championship history have gone to extra-time.
The highest tally of assists in qualifying was 6 – made by Vladimir Weiss (Slovakia) and Arkadiusz
Milik (Poland).
Michel Platini has scored the most goals in the European
Championships. He has 9 in total. Both
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) have this record
in their sights at these finals. They currently both sit on 6 goals apiece.
Switzerland have only ever won 1 match at European
Championship finals from 9 attempts.
Northern Ireland are currently on a 12-match unbeaten run going into EURO 2016 – the longest of
any team competing in France.
 |
| Poland's Robert Lewandowski was top scorer in EURO 2016 qualifying |
13 goals in
qualifying from Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (pictured) made him the top scorer.
The Czech Republic made the finals in 1976 and 1996. If the 20-year cycle was to be repeated, they’d make the
final this time around too!
25 years, 308 days is the average age of England’s squad at EURO 2016,
the youngest of any of the 24 teams competing.
Since reaching the semi-finals at their home tournament in
1992, Sweden have only won 25% of the
matches they have competed at in European Championship finals.
19-year-old Aleksandr Golovin is the only member of Russia’s
23-man squad who is under the age of 25.
Albania only had 28 shots on
target in qualifying – the lowest of any team competing at EURO 2016.
29 years, 297 days is the oldest average age squad in the championships.
The Republic of Ireland have that dubious honour.
Poland scored 33 goals in
qualifying – the highest of any team who are featuring in the finals.
Slovakia beat Spain in qualifying in October 2014, ending
Spain’s 36-match unbeaten
run in World Cup or European Championship qualifiers.
Hungary’s Gabor Kiraly and Shay Given of the Republic of
Ireland could both become the oldest-ever player to compete at European finals.
Both goalkeepers are over the age of 40 and would
surpass Lothar Matthaus’ record from EURO 2000 if they featured.
58 years have
passed since Wales last appeared at a major international tournament.
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| Gareth Bale's form was a major reason in Wales qualifying for EURO 2016. |
Gareth Bale (pictured) scored 64% of Wales’
goals in qualifying.
Marcus Rashford wasn’t even born when England hosted EURO 96.
England were the only team who qualified with a 100% record.
3 members of the Republic of Ireland squad have won over 100 caps for their country. They are Robbie Keane
(143), Shay Given (134) and John O’Shea (111).
1994 was the
last year a major international tournament consisted of 24 teams. Brazil won
the World Cup in that year in the United States.
Current Turkey boss Fatih Terim was also the manager when he
took the Turks to the semi-finals of EURO 2008.
The winners of EURO 2016 will compete in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which will be played
in Russia.
330,000 is the
total population of Iceland. They are the smallest nation to ever reach the
European Championship finals.
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