UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

Villeneuve-d'Ascq Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métro ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the tenth and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's Association football, football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million with the first matches being played in September 2014. 53 teams competed for 23 places in the final tournament to join

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, who automatically qualified as hosts.

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

competed in a European Championship qualifying for the first time since their affiliation to UEFA in 2013. The seeding pots were formed on the basis of the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

s, with the Euro 2012 champions Spain and hosts France automatically top seeded. The 53 national sides were drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team (with the results against the sixth-placed team discarded) qualify directly for the final tournament. The remaining eight third-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers. In March 2012,

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (); (born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss-Italian Association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and the president of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 26 Febr ...

, the UEFA general secretary at the time, stated that UEFA would review the qualification competition to ensure that it was not "boring". In September 2011, during UEFA's first full strategy meeting,

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

proposed a qualification format involving two group stages, but the member associations did not accept the proposal. In May 2013, Platini confirmed a similar qualifying format would be again discussed during the September 2013 UEFA executive committee meeting in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

.

Qualified teams

Thirteen of the sixteen teams (including hosts France) that qualified for Euro 2012 qualified again for the 2016 final tournament. Among them were

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, who became only the sixth team to record a flawless qualifying campaign (10 wins in 10 matches), defending European champions

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and world champions

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, who qualified for their 12th straight European Championship finals.

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

all returned after missing out in 2012, with the Austrians qualifying for just their second final Euro tournament, after having co-hosted Euro 2008 and first time through qualifying. Returning to the final tournament after long absences were

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

for the first time since co-hosting

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

for the first time in 44 years, having last appeared at Euro 1972, and 30 years since appearing in a major tournament, their previous one being the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

. Four teams secured their first qualification to a UEFA European Championship final tournament:

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Northern Ireland and Wales had each previously competed in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, while Albania and Iceland had never participated in a major tournament.

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

meanwhile are making the first tournament as an independent nation, having qualified for three Euro tournaments and eight World Cups under

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Similarly, both

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

completed successful qualification campaigns for the first time, having only previously qualified as hosts (of

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

respectively).

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

were the only team from the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

not to qualify for the finals, and it also marked the first time that both Northern Ireland and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

qualified for the same major tournament finals.

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, champions in 2004, finished bottom in their group and failed to qualify for the first time since 2000. Two other previous champions, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(1988) and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

(1992), missed out on the finals. The Dutch team failed to qualify for the first time since Euro 1984 (also held in France), missing out on their first major tournament since the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

and only 16 months after having finished third at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

. Denmark did not appear at the Euro finals for the first time since 2008, after losing in the play-off round against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. As of 2024, this was the last time that Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland qualified for either the World Cup or European Championship finals, the only time that Iceland qualified, as well as the last time that Denmark, the Netherlands and Scotland failed to qualify.

Final draw

The draw for the finals took place at the Palais des Congrès de la Porte Maillot in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 12 December 2015, 18:00 CET. The 24 qualified teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with the hosts France being automatically placed in position A1. The remaining teams were seeded into four pots of five (Pot 1) or six teams (Pots 2, 3, and 4). As the title holders, Spain were seeded in Pot 1, while the other 22 teams were seeded according to the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

s updated after the completion of the qualifying group stage (excluding the play-offs), which were released by UEFA on 14 October 2015. Teams were drawn consecutively into Group A to F. First, the Pot 1 teams were assigned to the first positions of their groups, while next the positions of all other teams were drawn separately from Pot 4 to 2 (for the purposes of determining the match schedules in each group). The draw resulted in the following groups:

Venues

Ten stadiums were used for the competition. Initially, twelve stadiums were presented for the French bid, chosen on 28 May 2010. These venues were to be whittled down to nine by the end of May 2011, but it was suggested in June 2011 that eleven venues might be used. The

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

had to decide which nine would be selected. The choice for the first seven was undisputed – the national

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

, four newly constructed ones in Lille Metropole (

Villeneuve-d'Ascq Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métro ...

), Décines-Charpieu (

Lyon Metropolis The Metropolis of Lyon (, ), also known as Grand Lyon (, "Greater Lyon"), is a French territorial collectivity in the east-central region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is a directly-elected metropolitan authority, encompassing both the city of Ly ...

),

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, and two stadiums in the two largest cities,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. After

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

opted out for financial reasons following relegation, two more venues were selected to be

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

and Nancy, leaving

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

as reserve options. In June 2011, the number of host venues was increased to eleven due to the new tournament format featuring 24 teams, instead of the previous 16. The decision meant that the reserve cities of Toulouse and Saint-Étienne joined the list of hosts. Then, in December 2011, Nancy announced its withdrawal from the tournament, after plans for the stadium's renovation were cancelled, finalising the list of host venues at ten. Two other possible options, the

Stade de la Beaujoire The Stade de la Beaujoire – Louis Fonteneau, mostly known as Stade de la Beaujoire (), is a stadium in Nantes, France. It is the home of French football club FC Nantes, known as the Domestic canary, canaries. The stadium was built in a hexagon ...

in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

and the

Stade de la Mosson The Stade de la Mosson () is a association football, football stadium in Montpellier, France. It is the home of Ligue 1 club Montpellier HSC, and has a capacity of 32,900. Formerly a 16,000-seater stadium, it was entirely rebuilt in 1998 to hos ...

in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

(venues which were used for the 1998 World Cup) were not chosen. The final list was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee on 25 January 2013. Capacity figures are those for matches at UEFA Euro 2016 and are not necessarily the total capacity that the venues are capable of holding.

Team base camps

Each team had a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases. From an initial list of 66 bases, the 24 participating teams had to confirm their selection with UEFA by 31 January 2016. The selected team base camps were announced on 2 March 2016:

Finals format

To accommodate the expansion from a 16-team finals tournament to 24 teams, the format was changed from the one used in 2012 with the addition of two extra groups in the group stage, and an extra round in the knockout stage. The six groups (A to F) still contained four teams each, with the top two from each group still going through to the knockout stage. In the new format, however, the four best third-ranked sides also progressed, leaving 16 teams going into the new round of 16 knockout stage (ahead of the usual quarter-finals, semi-finals and final), and only eight teams going out after the group stage. The format was the same as the one which was applied to the 1986,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, and

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

s, except for the absence of a third place play-off. This format generated a total of 51 matches, compared with 31 matches for the previous 16-team tournament, played over a period of 31 days.

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

's general secretary

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (); (born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss-Italian Association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and the president of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 26 Febr ...

previously described the format as "not ideal" due to the need for third-ranked teams in the group stage advancing, leading to difficulty in preventing situations where teams might be able to know in advance what results they needed to progress out of the group; this led to the risk of a lack of suspense for fans, or even the prospect of mutually beneficial collusion between teams.

Squads

Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could be replaced by another player.

Match officials

On 15 December 2015, UEFA named eighteen referees for Euro 2016. The full referee teams were announced on 1 March 2016. England was the only country to have two referees in the tournament. Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai was chosen to officiate the opener between France and Romania. English referee

Mark Clattenburg Mark Clattenburg (born 13 March 1975) is an English former professional Association football, football Referee (association football), referee. Clattenburg is a former member of the Premier League and the Durham County Football Association an ...

was chosen to officiate the final between Portugal and France. Two match officials, who serve only as fourth officials, and two reserve assistant referees were also named:

Opening ceremony

An hour before the first match at the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

on 10 June 2016, 20:00 CEST, the opening ceremony of the tournament was held. The ceremony featuring 600 dancers, 150 of which were involved in a traditional French dance before an uptempo version of " La Vie en rose" by French singer

Édith Piaf Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...

was played. Following this, French DJ

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

took to the stage, he performed shortened versions of some of his hits before he was joined on stage by Swedish singer

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

to perform the official song of the tournament " This One's for You". The ceremony ended with a fly over from the Patrouille Acrobatique de France of the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

, trailing the French blue, white, and red. The ceremony also featured a tribute to the victims of the

November 2015 Paris attacks A series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-De ...

. Following the ceremony, the hosts

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

beat

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

2–1 in the opening game of the tournament.

Group stage

UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 25 April 2014, which was confirmed on 12 December 2015, after the final draw. Group winners, runners-up, and the best four third-placed teams advanced to the

Round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. ''All times are local, CEST (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

).'' France beat Romania 2–1 in the 1st match of EURO 2016.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied: # Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question; # Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question; # Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question; # If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking (e.g. if criteria 1 to 3 were applied to three teams that were level on points initially and these criteria separated one team from the other two who still have an equal ranking), criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams who were still level to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 applied; # Superior goal difference in all group matches; # Higher number of goals scored in all group matches; # If only two teams had the same number of points, and they were tied according to criteria 1–6 after having met in the last round of the group stage, their ranking was determined by a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. (This criterion was not used if more than two teams had the same number of points.); # Fair play conduct (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card); # Position in the

UEFA national team coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and Single-elimination tournament#Seeding, seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football ...

ranking system.

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Group D

---- ----

Group E

---- ----

Group F

---- ----

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage,

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

and a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

were used to decide the winner if necessary. As with every tournament since

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

, there was no third place play-off. ''All times are local, CEST (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

).''

Bracket

Round of 16

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Final

Statistics

Goals

Awards

;UEFA Team of the Tournament The UEFA Technical Team was given the objective of naming a team of eleven players during the tournament, a change from the 23-man squads in the past competitions. The group of analysts watched every game before making the decision following the final. Four players from the winning Portuguese squad were named in the tournament. ;Player of the Tournament The Player of the Tournament award was given to Antoine Griezmann, who was chosen by UEFA's technical observers, led by UEFA chief technical officer Ioan Lupescu and including Sir Alex Ferguson and

Alain Giresse Alain Jean Giresse (; born 2 August 1952) is a French association football, football coach and former player who last managed Kosovo national football team, Kosovo. Giresse was French Player of the Year in 1982, 1983 and 1987. Nominally an Midfi ...

. * Antoine Griezmann ;Young Player of the Tournament The Young Player of the Tournament award, open to players born on or after 1 January 1994, was given to Renato Sanches who was named above Kingsley Coman and Portugal teammate Raphaël Guerreiro. The particular player, who deserved the award, was also chosen by UEFA's technical observers. * Renato Sanches – ;Golden Boot The Golden Boot was awarded to Antoine Griezmann, who scored one goal in the group stage and five in the knockout stage. * Antoine Griezmann – 6 goals, 2 assists (555 minutes) ;Silver Boot The Silver Boot was awarded to

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

, who scored two goals in the group stage and one in the knockout stage, as well as providing two assists. *

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

– 3 goals, 2 assists (625 minutes) ;Bronze Boot The Bronze Boot was awarded to

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (; born 30 September 1986) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...

, who scored one goal in the group stage and two in the knockout stage, as well as providing two assists; compatriot

Dimitri Payet Dimitri Payet (; born 29 March 1987) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. A set-piece specialist known for his accurate, Curl (football), bending Direct free kick, free kicks, he primari ...

amassed the same tally, but played 50 more minutes than Giroud. *

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (; born 30 September 1986) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...

– 3 goals, 2 assists (456 minutes) ;Goal of the Tournament The Goal of the Tournament was decided by online voting. A total 5 goals were in the shortlist. On 13 July 2016, after an open vote with over 150,000 entries, UEFA announced that Hungarian midfielder

Zoltán Gera Zoltán Gera (born 22 April 1979) is a Hungarian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder for Fulham F.C., Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek FC, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencv ...

's goal against Portugal had been named as fans' goal of the tournament. In a separate poll, UEFA's technical observers decided that Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri's goal against Poland deserved top spot in their list of the ten best goals of the tournament. *Fans:

Zoltán Gera Zoltán Gera (born 22 April 1979) is a Hungarian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder for Fulham F.C., Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek FC, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencv ...

(vs

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

) *Technical observers: Xherdan Shaqiri (vs

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

)

Prize money

A total of €301 million was distributed to the 24 teams contesting in the tournament, a growth from the €196 million payment in the preceding event. Each team was rewarded €8 million, with further rewards depending on their performances. Portugal, the champions of the competition, were awarded €8 million in addition to any prize money earned in earlier rounds – the biggest prize attainable was €27 million (for winning all group matches and the final). Full list: *Prize for participating: €8 million Extra payment based on team's performance: *Champions: €8 million *Runners-up: €5 million *Reaching the semi-finals: €4 million *Reaching the quarter-finals: €2.5 million *Reaching the round of 16: €1.5 million *Winning a group match: €1 million *Drawing a group match: €500,000

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: * Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences) * Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches; yellow cards expired after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions were not carried forward to any other future international matches) The following suspensions were served during the tournament:

Issues

Pre-tournament concerns included heavy flooding of the

River Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...

in Paris, and strikes in the transport sector shortly before the beginning of the event.

Security

Following the attacks on Paris on 13 November 2015, including one in which the intended target was a game at the Stade de France, controversies about the safety of players and tourists during the upcoming tournament arose. Noël Le Graët, president of the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

, explained that the concern for security had increased following the attacks. He claimed: "there was already a concern for the Euros, now it's obviously a lot higher. We will continue to do everything we can so that security is assured despite all the risks that this entails. I know that everyone is vigilant. Obviously, this means that we will now be even more vigilant. But it's a permanent concern for the federation and the renchstate". A "suspicious vehicle" near the Stade de France was destroyed by a police-mandated controlled explosion on 3 July, hours before the venue held the quarter-final between France and Iceland.

Hooliganism

The day before the tournament, fighting broke out between local youths and England fans in Marseille; police dispersed the local youths with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

. On 10 June, English fans at

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

clashed with police. Six English fans were later arrested and sentenced to prison. On 11 June, violent clashes erupted in the streets of the same city before and after the Group B match between England and Russia that ended in a 1–1 draw. One English fan was reported to be critically ill in the hospital while dozens of others were injured in the clashes. On 14 June, the Russian team were given a suspended disqualification, fined €150,000, and warned that future violence would result in their removal from the cup. Additionally, 50 Russian fans were deported. The English team was also warned about disqualification, but was not formally charged. Violence between English and Russian fans arose again in

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, where a total of 36 fans were arrested, and 16 people were hospitalised. Late in the Group D match between the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, flares were thrown onto the pitch from where Croatia supporters were massed. The match was paused for several minutes while they were cleared up. There was also fighting in the Croatia supporters' area. Later that same day, there was violence involving Turkish fans after Turkey's defeat by Spain. As a result of these incidents and earlier crowd troubles after the countries' first matches, UEFA launched official procedures against the Croatian and Turkish football federations. The Croatian federation was fined €100,000 for the incidents.

Pitch quality

The

football pitch A football pitch or soccer field is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is ty ...

es at French stadiums were criticised during the group stage for their poor quality. France coach Didier Deschamps was especially critical. UEFA tournament director Martin Kallen blamed heavy rain for damaged turf, though the press speculated that non-football events may have also been a contributor. The pitch at Lille received particular attention with players slipping continuously and with groundsmen forced at halftime to try to repair the cut up pitch. Despite UEFA applying numerous methods to rectify the problems, such as a ban on pre-match training on the pitch, use of fertilisers, seeding, mowing, light therapy, drying and playing with the roof closed to avoid rain, it was decided that the pitch at Lille had to be entirely replaced following the Italy–Republic of Ireland group match on 22 June. The new pitch was replaced with Dutch grass and was ready before the last sixteen match between Germany and Slovakia on 26 June. UEFA also stated that repair work was also required at the St Denis and Marseille pitches. This was the second time that a Euro championship pitch needed to be re-laid mid-tournament. The first time was the St. Jakob-Park in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

during Euro 2008. UEFA's Leeds-based consultant Richard Hayden had come under criticism as it was reported he ordered local groundsmen to re-lay three pitches (Lille, Nice, and Marseille) with Slovak grass, provided by an Austrian company for an estimated €600,000 (£460,000). On 22 June it was reported that France's grass association officials had blamed Hayden for continued problems with the pitches, citing "it is amazing that it is only these pitches that have problems today". The Austrian manufacture of the turf, Richter, responded to the French grass association officials by saying "the turf for the stadiums in Lille and Marseille was delivered in top condition" and that "the turf placement and further care were handled by French companies and no one other than the French grounds-people had control over the grounds condition". In a statement, UEFA rejected the criticism against Hayden as baseless and stated they were satisfied with his work.

Moths

Before the final match started, the stadium was invaded by Silver Y

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s, which caused some irritation to the players, staff and coaches. The reason this occurred is because the workers at the stadium left the lights switched on the day before the match which attracted huge swaths of insects. The players and coaches of each team during the warm-up tried swatting the moths, and ground staff used brushes to clean moths from the walls, ground and other places. One moth was infamously captured flying on and around

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

's face when he was sitting on the pitch after being injured during the match.

Marketing

Video game

The UEFA Euro 2016 video game was released by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

as a free DLC on '' Pro Evolution Soccer 2016''. The DLC was available for existing ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2016'' members on 24 March 2016 for major platforms (

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

,

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

,

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

,

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

). The game was released physically and digitally on 21 April for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 users.

Logo and slogan

The official logo was unveiled on 26 June 2013, during a ceremony at the Pavillon Cambon Capucines in Paris. Conceived by Portuguese agency Brandia Central, which also created the visual identity for the previous European Championship, the design is based on the theme "Celebrating the art of football". The logo depicts the Henri Delaunay Trophy with the blue, white and red colours of the French flag, surrounded by a mixture of shapes and lines representing different artistic movements and football elements. On 17 October 2013, UEFA announced the official slogan of the tournament: ''Le Rendez-Vous''. Asked about its meaning, Jacques Lambert, chairman of the Euro 2016 organising committee, told that the slogan "is much more than a reminder of dates (...) and venues". He further explained that "UEFA is sending out an invitation to football fans throughout the world and to lovers of major events, an invitation to meet up and share the emotions of an elite-level tournament".

Match balls

For the first time in the tournament's history, two official match balls were used. The "Adidas Beau Jeu", used for the group stage, was unveiled on 12 November 2015 by former France player

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

. During the tournament, the "Adidas Fracas" was introduced as the exclusive match ball for the knockout rounds.

Mascot

The official mascot of the tournament, "Super Victor", was unveiled on 18 November 2014. He is a child superhero in the kit of the

France national football team The France national football team () represents France in men's international Association football, football. It is controlled by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is a member of UEFA in Euro ...

, with a red cape at the back, to echo the colours of the

flag of France The national flag of France () is a Tricolour (flag), tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (Flag terminology#Description of standard flag parts and terms, hoist side), white, and red. The design was adopted after the French Rev ...

. The cape, boots and ball are claimed to be the child's superpowers. The mascot first appeared during the match between France and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

at the Stade Vélodrome,

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 18 November 2014. The name of the mascot was revealed on 30 November 2014 after receiving about 50,000 votes from the public on the official

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

website, beating the other nominated names of "Driblou" and "Goalix". It is based on the idea of victory and references the boy's super powers that he gained when he found the magic cape, boots and ball. The name of the mascot is the same as the name of a

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating. The ...

. UEFA said that this 'coincidence' was not their responsibility because the name was selected by fan voting.

Official songs

The competition's official opening song was " This One's for You" by

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

featuring

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

, and the official closing song was "Free Your Mind" by Maya Lavelle. It was reported that David Guetta sought one million fans to add their voices to the official anthem via a website.

Sponsorship

Broadcasting

The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) was located at the Paris expo Porte de Versailles in Paris' 15th arrondissement.

References

External links

UEFA Euro 2016
at UEFA.com
Official Technical Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uefa Euro 2016

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Euro 2016 2015–16 in French football

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

June 2016 sports events in France July 2016 sports events in France 2015–16 in European men's football

Bid process

Qualification

Qualified teams

Final draw

Venues

Team base camps

Finals format

Squads

Match officials

Opening ceremony

Group stage

Tiebreakers

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Statistics

Goals

Awards

Prize money

Discipline

Issues

Security

Hooliganism

Pitch quality

Moths

Marketing

Video game

Logo and slogan

Match balls

Mascot

Official songs

Sponsorship

Broadcasting

References

External links