User:EwanHughes123/RED Euro 2012

RED Euro 2012 ... The RED European Championship 2012, commonly known as the Euro's, was the 20th European Championship, held in France from the 1st of July until the 1st of August, 16 Nations took part in the final tournament, with 54 Teams taking part in 9 Qualification Groups. The tournament broke the record for the most goals at a single Euro's tournament, with 121 Goals being scored in just 32 Games. The Golden Boot award was awarded to Robin Van Persie of the Netherlands.

Pre-Tournament

It was announced on The 20th of March 2010, that it would be France who would host the tournament, France also set the record for the lowest amount of Stadiums used for a European Championship, with only 6 Stadiums being used in the finals, this includes..

Stade de France, Paris.

Parc des Princes, Paris.

Le Mans Stadium, Le Mans.

Parc des Euro, Bordeaux.

Stade Velodrome, Marseille.

Stade Gerland, Lyon.

Qualification

The draw for the qualification took place in The Stade de France in June 2010. Seeds were based on EIFA World Rankings at the time, and the country's performance in the previous tournament, France did not have to qualify, due to the fact that they are the hosts, Germany were the only other nation to skip qualification. The Seeds were criticized due to the fact that the Czech Republic were in Pot 1, after failing to even qualify for Euro 2008 and the Republic of Ireland, who reached the Semi Finals of the previous tournament, were in Pot 3. The Draw eventually finished with complaints as Ireland were drawn with Holland and Poland. Russia were among others to complain, after being drawn with life long enemies Estonia, EIFA ordered that Estonia and Russia must be moved from one anothers group, Estonia was swapped with another Pot 2 side, Bulgaria, which also sparked controversy. The easiest group was seen as Group A, which contained the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece , Lithuania, Kazakhstan and San Marino.

Play-Offs

Poland 1-1 Russia

Bosnia 0-1 Czech Republic

Wales 0-0 Denmark

Ukraine 5-1 Albania

Russia 1-1 Poland (Russia win 5-3 on Pens) (Agg: 2-2)

Czech Republic 1-2 Bosnia (Agg: 2-2, Bosnia win on away goals)

Denmark 2-1 Wales (Agg: 2-1)

Albania 0-3 Ukraine (Agg: 8-1)

Teams Qualified

France - Hosts

Germany - Champions

Greece - Group A Winner

Croatia - Group B Winner

Spain - Group C Winner

England - Group D Winner

Bulgaria - Group E Winner

Holland - Group F Winner

Italy - Group G Winner

Portugal - Group H Winner

Serbia - Group I Winner

Switzerland - Best Second Place Team.

Russia - Play Off 1 Winner

Bosnia - Play Off 2 Winner

Denmark - Play Off 3 Winner

Ukraine - Play Off 4 Winner

Notable Exceptions Include the Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland and 2008 Qualifiers Austria, Romania, Ireland and Sweden. 2012 Also marked the major tournament debut for Bosnia and Euro's debut for Ukraine, it also marked Bulgaria's first major tournament appearance since the 1990 EIFA World Cup.