EURO 2012 OPENING CEREMONY

On June 8 the Euro 2012 opening ceremony in Warsaw will bring the European nations together for a feast of football. 

The performance will start 20 minutes before kick-off of the tournament's opening match between Poland and Greece and begin three weeks of national team football in Poland and Ukraine.

The concept for the UEFA EURO 2012 opening ceremony has been developed by Marco Balich, Olympic Producer and president of events and ceremonies company Filmmaster Events. Balich created the opening and closing ceremonies of the Turin Olympics in 2006 and is also known in Ukraine, having produced the opening ceremony of the Donbass Arena in Donetsk in 2009.

The show will combine heritage and innovation and will last for 12 minutes to bring sport and culture together and mark the start of a historical event, the first UEFA European Football Championship to be staged in central and eastern Europe. It will also promote the participating nations together with key EURO values: unity, rivalry and passion.

 Hungarian classical pianist Adam Gyorgy, will perform a Chopin Étude in a minor (Op.25 Nr.11) as part of the ceremony, to bring the pure classical tradition of Chopin into a sport environment. Gyorgy is a major fan of football himself and was previously involved with the Hungarian national team set-up.

The opening ceremony will include mass choreographies involving more than 800 volunteer performers, coming from as many as 63 countries around the world. More than 150 million live viewers are expected to watch the opening match and its ceremony.

With just over a week to go all the teams are involved in friendly matches to ensure they are at their peak going into the Championships.

Will the trophy have a new name engraved or will it be Spain once again? Overall lets hope there is a lot of entertaining football and the 'beautiful game' is played fairly.

Good luck to all 16 teams.

HOSTS POLAND CONFIRM FINAL SQUAD

Poland coach Franciszek Smuda has finalised his 23 man squad for the Euros.
He said it was a very difficult decision to drop 3 players from the provisional squad.

Poland squad
Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczęsny (Arsenal FC), Przemysław Tytoń (PSV Eindhoven), Grzegorz Sandomierski (KRC Genk).

Defenders: Sebastian Boenisch (SV Werder Bremen), Marcin Kamiński (KKS Lech Poznań), Damien Perquis (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard), Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund), Marcin Wasilewski (RSC Anderlecht), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warszawa), Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (KKS Lech Poznań).

Midfielders: Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund), Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre), Kamil Grosicki (Sivasspor), Adam Matuszczyk (Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895), Adrian Mierzejewski (Trabzonspor AŞ), Rafal Murawski (KKS Lech Poznań), Eugen Polanski (1. FSV Mainz), Ludovic Obraniak (FC Girondins de Bordeaux), Maciej Rybus (FC Terek Grozny), Rafał Wolski (Legia Warszawa).

Forwards: Paweł Brożek (Celtic FC), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), Artur Sobiech (Hannover 96).

SPAINS FINAL EURO SQUAD

Following their opening encounter versus Italy on 10 June in Gdansk, Spain conclude their Group C campaign in the same city against the Republic of Ireland and Croatia.

Spain squad
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid CF), Víctor Valdés (FC Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Liverpool FC).

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF), Gerard Piqué (FC Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Valencia CF), Álvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid CF), Raúl Albiol (Real Madrid CF), Juanfran (Club Atlético de Madrid), Javi Martínez (Athletic Club).

Midfielders: Xavi Hernández (FC Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (FC Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid CF), David Silva (Manchester City FC), Santi Cazorla (Málaga CF), Jesús Navas (Sevilla FC), Cesc Fàbregas (FC Barcelona), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona).

Forwards: Fernando Llorente (Athletic Club), Juan Mata (Chelsea FC), Fernando Torres (Chelsea FC), Pedro Rodríguez (FC Barcelona), Álvaro Negredo (Sevilla FC).

DUTCH TEAM FINALISED FOR EURO 2012

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk has includes Eindhoven  players Wilfried Bouma and Jetro Willems in his final 23-man squad for UEFA EURO 2012.

33-year-old Bouma last appeared in an Oranje shirt 4 years ago – in a 2-0 win against Romania at  EURO 2008 – while 18-year-old Willems has just completed his first season in the Eredivisie with PSV. The duo are likely to compete with Stijn Schaars for the left-back berth in Poland and Ukraine after the Sporting Clube de Portugal midfielder made his debut in the friendly against England on 29 February.

Coach Van Marwijk said it was a difficult decision to cut the likes of Vurnon Anita, Siem de Jong, Jeremain Lens and Dutch young player of the year Adam Maher from his initial 27-man provisional squad. "I have taken time to talk with the omitted players and explain why," he said. "They deserved that after their good work. They can leave the training camp with their heads held high."

From the team that started the final defeat against Spain at the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, only retired left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst is missing. Uncapped forward Luciano Narsingh also takes his place in a squad that has a wealth of attacking options.

The Netherlands start their final tournament on 9 June against Denmark before facing Germany and Portugal in a very difficult group– all in Kharkiv. Prior to the tournament, they play three friendly matches, against Bulgaria today, Slovakia on 30 May and Northern Ireland on 2 June.

Results from other games in the Dutch group today 26 May

Switzerland 5 - 3 Germany

Portugal 0 - 0 Macedonia

Denmark 1 - 3 Brazil

Netherlands Squad Goalkeepers: Tim Krul (Newcastle United FC), Maarten Stekelenburg (AS Roma), Michel Vorm (Swansea City AFC).

Defenders: Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Wilfred Bouma (PSV Eindhoven), John Heitinga (Everton FC), Joris Mathijsen (Málaga CF), Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord), Gregory van der Wiel (AFC Ajax), Jetro Willems (PSV Eindhoven).

Midfielders: Mark van Bommel (AC Milan), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City FC), Stijn Schaars (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Wesley Sneijder (FC Internazionale Milano), Kevin Strootman (PSV Eindhoven), Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur FC).

Forwards: Ibrahim Afellay (FC Barcelona), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (FC Schalke 04), Luuk de Jong (FC Twente), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool FC), Luciano Narsingh (sc Heerenveen), Robin van Persie (Arsenal FC), Arjen Robben (FC Bayern München).

RUSSIA NAME 23 MAN SQUAD FOR EUROS

Dick Advocaat has named his final 23 man squad for the Euros 2012.
Russia have began their preparations with a 1-1 draw against Uruguay.

They start their campaign on June 8 against Czech Republic, followed by games with Poland and Greece.

FULL SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (PFC CSKA Moskva), Vyacheslav Malafeev (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Anton Shunin (FC Dinamo Moskva).

Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Aleksei Berezutski (PFC CSKA Moskva), Sergei Ignashevich (PFC CSKA Moskva), Vladimir Granat (FC Dinamo Moskva), Yuri Zhirkov (FC Anzhi Makhachkala), Dmitri Kombarov (FC Spartak Moskva), Roman Sharonov (FC Rubin Kazan), Kirill Nababkin (PFC CSKA Moskva).

Midfielders: Igor Denisov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Konstantin Zyryanov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Denis Glushakov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Igor Semshov (FC Dinamo Moskva), Marat Izmailov (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Alan Dzagoev (PFC CSKA Moskva).

Forwards: Andrey Arshavin (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Aleksandr Kerzhakov (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Aleksandr Kokorin (FC Dinamo Moskva), Roman Pavlyuchenko (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Fulham FC).

RUDDY OUT OF ENGLANDS EURO 2012

JOHN RUDDY HAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE ENGLAND SQUAD AFTER BREAKING A FINGER. HIS REPLACEMENT WILL BE AN UNKNOWN 19 YEAR OLD BY THE NAME OF JACK BUTLAND. 

THE YOUNGSTER HAS HAD A GOOD SEASON ON LOAN AT CHELTENHAM TOWN IN LEAGUE TWO AND AN ARRAY OF TOP CLUBS HAVE BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM.

HE CAME THROUGH THE BIRMINGHAM CITY ACADEMY AND HAS HELPED CHELTENHAM REACH THE PLAY OFFS. THE OLYMPICS WAS HIS GOAL BUT NOW IT SEEMS HE WILL TRAVEL TO POLAND/UKRAINE FOR THE EUROS. 

GOOD LUCK TO THE YOUNGSTER AND A BRIGHT CAREER AHEAD OF HIM.

UPCOMING EURO FRIENDLIES

Teams in the Euro 2012 Championships are now preparing in their training camps and most are playing over the weekend 25 - 27 May 2012.
Here are a few organised friendlies.

CROATIA V ESTONIA
CZECH REP V ISRAEL
DENMARK V BRAZIL
ENGLAND V NORWAY
FRANCE V ICELAND
GERMANY V SWITZERLAND
GREECE V SLOVENIA
NETHERLANDS V BULGARIA
POLAND V SLOVAKIA
PORTUGAL V MACEDONIA
REP OF IRELAND V BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
RUSSIA V URUGUAY
SPAIN V SERBIA

EURO NEWS

David Villa is out of the Euros after declaring himself unfit. A big blow to both Barcelona and of course Spain.

The final squad will be announced this Sunday and another missing name is likely to be Carles Puyol who has had knee surgery and looks very doubtful to join the current holders. They play Italy, Republic of Ireland and Crotia in their group games.

Poland 1 - 0 Latvia

Poland won their friendly game with a single goal from Artur Sobiech tonight in Austria.

They had several chances to wrap up the game but Arsenal keeper, Fabianski was in fine form. Latvia hit the post, then with only 8 minutes remaining the Poles struck the winner. 

The hosts have two more friendlies, Slovakia and Andorra, before they open their campaign against Greece on 8 June.

Bayern Munich 3 - 2 Netherlands

A game full of substitutions and goals but nothing can really be judged on this game. Both teams could have probably done without this but 20,000 + fans applauded both sides. A win for Bayern which is no real consolation for the Chelsea defeat and a run out in their new black strip for the Netherlands is all to report.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MASCOTS

European Football Championship	Mascot(s)	Description
Italy 1980	Pinocchio	Based on the character from the children's story of the same name. Pinocchio comprised a small wooden boy with long nose in the colours of the Italian national flag and a white hat emblazened with EUROPA 80.[1][2]
France 1984	Péno	A white cockerel, a traditional national symbol of France, dressed in a French coloured football strip including football boots and white gloves.[3]
West Germany 1988	Berni	A cartoonised German Grey Rabbit with human shaped body. Berni wore an outfit in the colours of the German national flag with a black football jersey with UEFA across the front, red football shorts and yellow or golden socks additionally with white head andwristbands. Mostly depicted while jumping and controlling a football.
Sweden 1992	Rabbit	The Swedish mascot was also a rabbit in the national colours with head and wristbands controlling a football like the mascot from four years previously and was called name of Rabbit.
England 1996	Goaliath	Goaliath was designed in a similar fashion to the original World Cup mascot from 1966 World Cup called World Cup Willie. Goliath comprised a lion, the image on the English football teams crest, dressed in an England football strip and football boots whilst holding a football under his right arm.
Netherlands-Belgium 2000	Benelucky	A lion with a devil's tail and human hands. A lion appears on the crest of the Dutch national federation, and the Belgian national team is historically nicknamed "Red Devils". The name Benelucky, is a portmanteau of "Benelux", the term for the three nations ofBelgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and the ending "-lucky" wishing the participating teams "good luck". It wore football boots and held a football under its left arm. One of the most striking characteristics of Benelucky was its multicoloured lions mane which incorporated the colours of both theBelgian and Dutch national flags.
Portugal 2004	Kinas	A cartoon version of a boy dressed in the Portugal football strip. The mascot's name, Kinas, is taken from "Bandeira das Quinas", which is a name for Portugal's national flag.
Austria-Switzerland 2008	Trix and Flix	A twin set of mascots two represent the two host countries, Austria and Switzerland. The Warner Bros. design was of two child like characters both dressed in football strips comprising solely red and white, the colours of the national flags of Austria and Switzerland.
Poland-Ukraine 2012	Slavek (Sławek) and Slavko	Once again Warner Bros. created the mascots. The twins represent two host nations, Poland and Ukraine. One twin wears Poland's national colours of red and white, the other the yellow and blue of Ukraine.

EURO 2012 ARENAS

There will be 8 arenas used for the finals. 4 in Poland and 4 in Ukraine.

POLAND


Arena Gdansk - Capacity 40,000

Municipal Stadium Poznan - Capacity 40,000

National Stadium Warsaw - Capacity 50,000

Municipal Stadium Wroclaw - Capacity 40.000

UKRAINE


Donbass Arena Donetsk - Capacity 50,000

Metalist Stadium Kharkiv - Capacity 35,000

Olympic Stadium, Kyiv - Capacity 60,000 (Venue for Final)

Arena Lviv - Capacity 30,000

EURO 2012 DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW FACTS


The Czech Republic have played out 3 penalty shoot-outs in the Euro Finals and have won all 3.
They have scored all 20 penalties which were taken and missed NONE.
1976 FINAL: WON 5-3
1980 THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF: WON 9-8
1996 SEMI FINALS : WON 6-5

There have been 8 hat-tricks in the European Championships Finals.
1) Dieter Müller: 1976 semi-finals, Yugoslavia 2-4 West Germany (aet)
2) Klaus Allofs: 1980 group stage, West Germany 3-2 Netherlands
3) Michel Platini: 1984 group stage, France 5-0 Belgium
4) Michel Platini: 1984 group stage, France 3-2 Yugoslavia
5) Marco van Basten: 1988 group stage, England 1-3 Netherlands
6) Sérgio Conceição: 2000 group stage, Portugal 3-0 Germany
7) Patrick Kluivert: 2000 quarter-finals, Netherlands 6-1 Yugoslavia
8) David Villa: 2008 group stage, Spain 4-1 Russia

There has also been some very quick goals
1) 1min 07sec – Dmitri Kirichenko (Russia 2-1 Greece, 20/06/2004) 
2) 2min 07sec – Sergei Aleinikov (England 1-3 Soviet Union, 18/06/1988) 
3) 2min 14sec – Alan Shearer (Germany 1-1 (5-6 pens) England, 26/06/1996) 
4) 2min 25sec – Michael Owen (Portugal 2-2 (5-6 pens) England, 24/06/2004) 
5) 2min 27sec – Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria 1-0 Romania, 13/06/1996) 

The highest number of goals in one match is 9.
1960 semi-finals: France 4-5 Yugoslavia


OH!! and 1 more fact: ENGLAND HAVE NEVER WON THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

EURO 2012 PORTUGAL AND SWEDEN SQUADS

Portugal and Sweden have finalised their squads for the Euros in 21 days time.

Portugal have an array of talent but are in a very difficult group alongside Germany, Netherlands and Denmark.

Portugal Final squad
Goalkeepers: Eduardo (SL Benfica), Rui Patrício (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Beto (CFR 1907 Cluj).

Defenders: João Pereira (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Fábio Coentrão (Real Madrid CF), Bruno Alves (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Rolando (FC Porto), Ricardo Costa (Valencia CF), Pepe (Real Madrid CF), Miguel Lopes (SC Braga).

Midfielders: Raúl Meireles (Chelsea FC), Miguel Veloso (Genoa CFC), João Moutinho (FC Porto), Rúben Micael (Real Zaragoza), Carlos Martins (Granada CF), Custódio (SC Braga).

Forwards: Nani (Manchester United FC), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid CF), Hugo Almeida (Beşiktaş JK), Ricardo Quaresma (Beşiktaş JK), Silvestre Varela (FC Porto), Hélder Postiga (Real Zaragoza), Nélson Oliveira (SL Benfica).

Sweden can never be written off and face England, France and joint hosts Ukraine.

Sweden Final squad
Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson (PSV Eindhoven), Johan Wiland (FC København), Pär Hansson (Helsingborgs IF).

Defenders: Mikael Antonsson (Bologna FC), Andreas Granqvist (Genoa CFC), Olof Mellberg (Olympiacos FC), Jonas Olsson (West Bromwich Albion FC), Martin Olsson (Blackburn Rovers FC), Behrang Safari (RSC Anderlecht), Mikael Lustig (Celtic FC).

Midfielders: Emir Bajrami (FC Twente), Rasmus Elm (AZ Alkmaar), Samuel Holmén (İstanbul BB SK), Kim Källström (Olympique Lyonnais), Sebastian Larsson (Sunderland AFC), Anders Svensson (IF Elfsborg), Pontus Wernbloom (PFC CSKA Moskva), Christian Wilhelmsson (Al-Hilal FC).

Forwards: Johan Elmander (Galatasaray AŞ), Tobias Hysén (IFK Göteborg), Zlatan Ibrahimović (AC Milan), Markus Rosenberg (SV Werder Bremen), Ola Toivonen (PSV Eindhoven).

EURO 2012 ENGLAND SQUAD ANNOUNCED

The England squad has now been finalised for the Euros and new manager Roy Hodgson has picked a mix of young and old.

Arsenals Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy are the young pretenders where as Rio Ferdinand has been left out after an injury plagued season.

Hodgson said ' It has not been an easy squad to put together but I am pleased with the outcome'

'John Ruddy has had an excellent season at Norwich. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has made a big impression on me, particular versus Milan'.

'Andy Carroll is a different type of player. He is good in the air, he can hold the ball up and get inbehind. I gave an awful lot of thought to my strikers. I'm hoping the balance of the squad can be maintained by using Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ashley Young."

Obviously Wayne Rooney is suspended for the matches against France and Sweden so the other strikers have a golden chance to make a name for themselves.

England kick-off against France on 11 June in Donetsk.

THE FULL SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City FC), Robert Green (West Ham United FC), John Ruddy (Norwich City FC).

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton FC), Gary Cahill (Chelsea FC), Ashley Cole (Chelsea FC), Glen Johnson (Liverpool FC), Phil Jones (Manchester United FC), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City FC), John Terry (Chelsea FC).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City FC), Stewart Downing (Liverpool FC), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), Frank Lampard (Chelsea FC), James Milner (Manchester City FC), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal FC), Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Theo Walcott (Arsenal FC), Ashley Young (Manchester United FC).

Forwards: Andy Carroll (Liverpool FC), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United FC)*, Daniel Welbeck (Manchester United FC).

*Suspended for first two games.

EURO 2012

Its almost upon us. The European Championships Tournament 2012 starts 08 June in Warsaw, Poland.

There are 16 teams split into 4 groups.

GROUP A : POLAND, RUSSIA, GREECE, CZECH REPUBLIC

GROUP B : NETHERLANDS, DENMARK, GERMANY, PORTUGAL

GROUP C: SPAIN, ITALY, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, CROATIA

GROUP D: UKRAINE, SWEDEN, FRANCE, ENGLAND

POLAND V GREECE is the opener at the National Stadium in Warsaw.

WHO WILL HAVE THEIR NAME ON THE TROPHY ON 01 JULY WHEN THE FINAL IS HELD?

Stay up to date here. 23 days to go for KICK OFF and some amazing games ahead. 

Who are YOUR favourites to be the Champions of Europe?

Who will be first to leave the tournament and their dreams shattered for another 4 years?

All this information and more will be updated before, during and after the biggest football festival in EUROPE.