Senol Gunes' Turkey side have been in impressive form so far in 2021, convincingly beating the Netherlands and Norway, relying on three key players from Lille's Ligue 1 winning side in addition to two impressive Premier League performers in Caglar Soyuncu and Okay Yokuslu.

Euros don't always begin in the most thrilling fashion (opening games over the years in Switzerland, Poland and France come to mind) but this would be an intriguing match whenever it was placed on the fixture list. Odds: Turkey +650 Draw +270 Italy -182 (via William Hill Sportsbook)Ī year later than planned this curious European Championships gets up and running in Rome, where Turkey are billed as the home team against one of the competition's 11 hosts.Location: Stadio Olimpico - Rome, Italy.The draw has at least offered one intriguing collection of teams with France, Portugal and Germany congregated in Group F but the fact that all three could qualify for the round of 16 rather lessens the drama.ĭespite that there are plenty of fixtures that promise to bring intrigue to the early rounds. While UEFA's commitment to expanding the tournament to those outside the traditional powers is admirable it has perhaps robbed the European Championships of its calling card from past years, a near uniform standard of quality that makes every group competitive.

It's the summer of 2021, which means that Euro 2020 is fast approaching and with it a group stage that might generously be termed a convoluted way to trim 24 teams down to 16.

France vs ukraine 2020