2016 Euro Finalists (Pogba, Griezmann, Payet)

Lore & Background

France was chosen as the host nation on 28 May 2010, after a bidding process in which they beat Italy and Turkey. It was the third time that France hosted the finals, after the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals. The matches were played in ten stadiums in ten cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, Décines-Charpieu, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Étienne, and Toulouse.

Reader's Guide

For the first time, the European Championship final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since 1996. Under the new format, the finalists contested a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage including three rounds and the final. Nineteen teams – the top two from each of the nine qualifying groups and the best third-placed team – joined France in the final tournament, who qualified automatically as host; a series of two-legged play-off ties between the remaining third-placed teams in November 2015 decided the last four finalist spots.

Did You Know?

• Spain were the two-time defending champions, having won the 2008 and 2012 tournaments, but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy.
• As the winners, Portugal earned the right to compete at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
• Four teams secured their first qualification to a UEFA European Championship final tournament: Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.