Track Tickets
Ashes to Roses – Portugal 1-0 France
Antonio Eder won the European Championship for Portugal after Cristiano Ronaldo went off injured in the first half of the Euro 2016 final on Sunday. Lille striker Eder's 25-yard effort flew past the extreme dive of France goalie and Captain Hugo Lloris to nest into the bottom corner of the net. Portugal turned a disaster around to defeat tournament hosts France 1-0 in overtime with a brilliant goal from Portugal substitute Éder at 109 minutes to win their first Henri Delaunay Trophy and become the reigning 2016 UEFA European Champions after a long, hard-fought battle on the road to the UEFA Euro 2016 Final that was held at Stade de France in Paris before a sold-out emotional crowd of 75,868 Portuguese and French supporters. The victory was Portugal’s first major title ever.
The historic win was not expected after Real Madrid superstar talisman and Portugal Captain Cristiano Ronaldo was forced off the pitch in tears after only 24 minutes due to injury. CR7 had just seven touches before he collapsed in pain after being fouled by France superstar Dimitri Payet. Having given stellar performances en route to the final, Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio delivered a clean sheet in the Euro 2016 Final against France and rival goalie Hugo Lloris. Patricio was key to Portugal’s success in Paris and throughout the entire tournament.
Portuguese center-back Fonte was amazed that Portugal won despite the loss of winger Ronaldo early in the clash. “I was playing in League One a few years ago, it defies description, exclaimed Fonte. “This could be a Hollywood movie. We’ve written our names in history. This goes out to the whole nation, for the hardship we’ve been through and in 100 years we’ll look back on this. France are an amazing team. We lost our skipper who is the best player in the world but we believed to the end. Portugal has a shiny future.”
Portugal manager Fernando Santos was delighted with result and ready to celebrate the historic victory. “I am very happy, of course. First of all I’d like to thank God for being with us, my wife, my mother, my grandson. My father wherever he is, he’s probably having a few beers,” said Santos. “I’d like to give my thanks to Greece. Cristiano is an amazing example. Today he tried to remain on the pitch. He was very strong in the locker room, he helped all of the boys, that’s the definition of teamwork,” continued Santos. “We have a bright future but right now we need to celebrate.”
Portugal v France Squads
France (4-2-3-1)
Lloris; Sagna, Koscielny, Umtiti, Evra; Pogba, Matuidi; Sissoko, Griezmann, Payet; Giroud.
Substitutes: Jallet, Rami, Kante, Cabaye, Gignac, Martial, Schneiderlin, Mangal, Mandanda, Digne, Coman, Costil.
Portugal (4-1-3-2)
Rui Patricio, Cedric, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; William Carvalho; Renato Sanches, Adrien Silva, Joao Mario; Nani, Ronaldo.
Substitutes: Bruno Alves, Carvalho, Moutinho, Eder, Vierinha, Anthony Lopes, Danilo, Andre Gomes, Rafa Silva, Eliseu, Ricardo Quaresma, Eduardo.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)
Uefa Euro 2020 update & 2020 European cup tickets
The next edition of the UEFA European Cup will take place four years from now in the summer of 2020 at 13 cities in 13 different European countries. Wembley Stadium in London will host the Euro 2020 Semi-finals and Euro 2020 Final of the tournament, while Baku, Munich, Rome, Saint Petersburg, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Dublin, Bilbao, Budapest, Brussels and Glasgow will also hold games.
Euro 2020 being hosted in several nations is a "romantic" one-off event to celebrate the 60th "birthday" of the tournament. The UEFA Euro 2020 winner will go through to participate in the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.
UEFA EURO 2020 Host Nations-Cities
Final and Semi-finals
England - London
Three Group games, one Quarter-final
Azerbaijan - Baku
Germany - Munich
Italy - Rome
Russia - Saint Petersburg
Three Group games, one Round of 16 game
Belgium - Brussels
Denmark - Copenhagen
Hungary - Budapest
Netherlands - Amsterdam
Republic of Ireland - Dublin
Romania - Bucharest
Scotland - Glasgow
Spain - Bilbao
All 55 UEFA national teams, including the 13 national teams whose countries will host games, must compete in the qualifiers for the 24 places at the UEFA Euro 2020 finals tournament. As the host cities were appointed before the qualifiers of UEFA Euro 2020, it is possible for the national teams from the host cities to fail to qualify for the finals tournament. Portugal will be the defending European Cup champions, having won the 2016 edition. The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as UEFA Euro 2020 or Euro 2020, will be the 16th edition of the UEFA European Championship that is held every four years.
UEFA intends to stick with the plan of having 24 teams compete in Euro 2020 despite some criticism. Twenty-four national teams competed at the Euro 2016 tournament in France this summer – more than ever in history. To accomplish this, four third-placed national sides joined the winners and runners-up from the six groups to form the Round of 16 stage, therefore eight teams went home after the group stage. Theodore Theodoridis stated that UEFA expects to make a record profit of €830 million for Euro 2016 after expanding. He then talked about the future impact on footballers and quality of the tournament.
"The decision has been made to go for 24 and all the preparations for 2020 are with 24 teams," reported UEFA general secretary ad interim Theodoridis saying the tournament will not go back to 16 teams or even be expanded to 32. "But this particular committee is constantly reviewing the different elements and comes with proposals. But for 2020, we will go for 24. For 2024, it is wide open and it will be a proposal that is a very interesting discussion because there are pluses and minuses for every format,” continued Theodoridis. "We have to see the overall picture of the competition, not only the final tournament but also the qualifiers.
"If you ask me about 32, I am confident that we have more than 32 very competitive teams in Europe,” added Theodoridis. "But a format of 32 would kill the qualifiers so it is balance, you have to consider a little bit of everything." UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino said about the upcoming EURO 2020, "2020 is the 60th anniversary of the European Football Championship. Obviously the fact that the EURO will feature 24 teams instead of 16 puts an additional burden on countries hosting such an event. It becomes much more difficult for many countries as the requirements are becoming bigger and bigger.
"An opportunity like this, to give many cities and many countries the possibility to host even just one part of a EURO, is certainly an excellent thing, especially in times when you have an economic situation where you cannot expect countries to invest in the facilities such an event requires. Certainly one of the purposes of this decision is to help countries who are perhaps not sure today whether they should build a national stadium, giving them the impetus to build such a stadium. Instead of having a party in one country, we will have a party all over Europe in 2020."
UEFA President Michel Platini said about the unique plans for 2020, "In 2020, the EURO will never have better lived up to its name; it will be decidedly continental and profoundly European. It will be a EURO of unity and shared experiences. It will, of course, be a new challenge – a challenge of a new kind with one single language: football." However Germany coach Joachim Low and defender Mats Hummels criticized the expansion of the number of teams, saying the quality wasn't up to par in Euro 2016 because of the increased number of teams. Champions Germany lost to France in the semi-final after defeating Ukraine, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Italy.
"I think 24 teams are too many," said Low. "The World Cup is going to be increased to 40 teams and it's getting more and more, and that's a problem in the long term. “Sometimes you get the feeling it's not doing football any good. The quality is suffering. The level at this European Championship was not what we had hoped for," said Hummels. "There were many teams who didn't want to do anything with the ball and just packed men behind the ball."
Uefa Euro 2020 ticketsPlan ahead to buy all your UEFA EURO 2020 tickets from LiveFootballTickets.com including England tickets, Wales tickets, Republic of Ireland tickets, Northern Ireland tickets, Scotland tickets, Wembley Stadium tickets, and Euro 2020 Final tickets.
