Group-by-group analysis of the draw
Thanks for joining me. I will now runaway and not look back.
Anyway ... here is a hot take on the draw ...
In your face ...
Turkey will play pretty much at home in Baku. Great draw. Kind of rubs it in UEFA's face considering they never wanted Turkey to host it in 2016 and 2020.
— What Turks Think (@whatturksthink) November 30, 2019
It is quite unfair ...
@Will_Unwin this six group format it seems unfair that the winner of England's group will face a 2nd place team in the next round. Reminds me of Italia 90. England as group winners played a 2nd place team followed by a 1st place team. Other group winners played 3rd and then 2nd.
— rintelnerjoe (@rintelnerjoe) November 30, 2019
Giggs: “Very proud, we were in the last Euros and didn’t want it to be a flash in the pan.
“Logistically for us and the fans, it’s much better. At this stage they are all tough games. Switzerland are a talented team.
“You just hope when June comes around you have a healthy group of players to pick from. If we get that, we can beat anyone.”
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Southgate on favourites tag: “We have to accept that expectations have changed. We have to improve, though. We would rather be a team that is favoured.”
If England win their group, they will play the team who finish second in Group F (the group of death).
Southgate: “If you can win, you’ve got to take control of your own destiny. People will also be worried about playing us.”
Southgate: “I am never sure what a good draw is but we’ve played two of the teams before. Playing at Wembley will be very special.”
Have Croatia peaked? “I thought that maybe 12 months ago but they recovered very well in their group. I had a picture with Davor Suker before the draw, he wanted to play in London.”
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Shearer: “I think Gareth will be delighted with that draw. He will be confident England can get out of the group and do very well in the tournament.”
They are just showing every final ever. I am off to open wine if it carries on like this.
Sean gets more PR emails than I do.
Can see why some betting firms have cut Netherlands for Euro 2020. One of the easier paths to semis in theory: win an easyish group (Ukraine, Austria, TBC), then a 3rd-placed team in last 16, and runner-up of A/B in quarters (Russia or Swiss maybe?)
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 30, 2019
The Beeb have cut to ‘classic Euros moments’ as there is no analysis left.
Conor Blennerhassett says: “The police will be praying Scotland win their playoffs because they won’t fancy a Croatia v Serbia in Hampden on June 23.”
This is a tournament of peace. There will be no violence.
Already got a PR email saying England are favourites to win the tournament! FOOTBALL IS COMING HOME!
Where is slap, bang in the middle of Rome and Baku? Istanbul?
Two trips to Baku for Wales in four days. Elis James will have some explaining to do at home.
Playoff Winner C are the dark horses for me!
There we have it!
— England (@England) November 30, 2019
The #ThreeLions will be joined by the Czech Republic in Group D. pic.twitter.com/K3S9t1lbMi
GROUP F has made this whole blog worthwhile. Portugal, France and Germany in one group really is great fun.
Mark Hughes is another man who looks a lot better for not being a football manager.
I like the guess work, it makes a tedious draw even more annoying.
@Will_Unwin With the playoffs still to come this draw remind me of the days of endless FA cup replays. They’d be doing the quarter final pairings and two teams would still be slugging it out in the 3rd round.
— Jonathan Chilvers (@jonchilvers) November 30, 2019
Does that make sense? Wales will be pleased with the draw, I guess.
England will be laughing. Four of the six third place teams will also progress from the group.
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Group A (Rome, Baku): Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales
Group B (St Petersburg, Copenhagen): Russia, Denmark, Belgium, Finland
Group C (Amsterdam, Bucharest): Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria (Georgia, Kosovo, Belarus, North Macedonia)
Group D (London, Glasgow): England, Croatia, Czech Republic (Scotland, Israel, Norway, Serbia)
Group E (Bilbao, Dublin): Spain, Poland, Sweden (N Ireland, Bosnia, Slovakia or Ireland)
Group F (Munich, Budapest): Germany, France, Portugal (Iceland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary)
Playoff winner B in Group E. So that’s N Ireland, Bosnia, Slovakia or Ireland
Finland are in Group B with Denmark, Belgium and Russia.
Scotland, Israel, Norway or Serbia will be in Group D with England.
Playoff winner D are in Group C.
Wales are in Group A with Turkey, Italy and Switzerland. Enjoy Baku, lads.
Playoff winner A will be in Group F. That almost means nothing. It could be Iceland, Romania, Bulgaria or Hungary. But if Romania win it then they will be into Group C, anyway, and they’ll have to change it all.
Rather tedious having teams who faced each other in qualifying in the same groups. Why bother? Surely this concept could have been done more competently.
The final pot consists of Finland and Wales, not to mention the teams we don’t know about yet.
Portugal, France and Germany in Group F. Spicy.
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Sweden go into Group E. They joined Spain, who they played in the qualifiers, and Poland.
Italy v Turkey will be the opening game of the tournament next summer.
Czech Republic will play England again, having been drawn in Group D. Southgate will be pleased.
Austria find themselves in Group C alongside Netherlands and Ukraine.
Turkey will be in Group A with Italy and Switzerland.
Pot 3 follows Pot 2!!
France versus Germany in Group F! That will be exciting.
Poland are in Group E with Spain. Bilbao and Dublin are lovely.
Croatia join England in Group D!! They will play each other in the opening group game on 14 June.
Ruud Gullit is the man pulling out of the Pot 2 balls. He is doing it very well, I must say. He twists those balls open without any trouble - he must have opened plenty of Kinder surprises in his time.
Switzerland are in Group A! They take position four and can enjoy a trip to Baku.
England will play all their group games at Wembley, which is exciting news for those who do not like travelling.
Pot 1 is done! This is a relief. Unsurprisingly, Pot 2 is next up.
England are drawn into Group D (we already knew this) and put into the first position. Logistically exciting.
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Belgium go into Group B, the only group they could have been drawn in. This is a waste of time.
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Ted Lee has got me far more excited that this draw ever could: “Does anyone get tired of seeing draw-after-draw with ping-pong balls? Why not darts? Or have each country send a 4 x 100 relay team, or even a geography quiz? Or combine the draw with Eurovision?”
The first bit is basically working out logistics for host countries. This is mildly mind-numbing.
Ukraine are first out and drawn into Group C, the only one they are permitted to be in. Netherlands are also in that group.
‘Now we all know how the group works ...’ it’s all clear Pedro, you crack on.
The draw procedure! This is exciting! Let’s remember that four teams are still to qualify through the playoffs.
Totti has turned up in full tux and looks fantastic. What a chap!
Arshavin is here too!
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They are just bringing them all out at once. Learn to build the tension, please.
Eleven special guests! I can’t wait. Let’s predict them!
Casillas and Desailly are next up.
We’re on the stage! We can all expect plenty of needless chat. Joao Mario is up first to say that winning the tournament is good. Ricardo Carvalho follows this by also explaining that winning is nice.
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Mrs Live Blogger is from Bucharest, so I assume this is why I was brought in for this role. I also used to live in Bilbao, so I am full of insight on the various host cities.
Jonathan Tasker says: “There are over sixty million people in this country. It is beyond belief that the best the BBC can come up with as a panel is Mark Hughes, presumably because he’s Welsh, Micah Richards, still best known for swearing live on the telly and a journalist. Embarrassing.”
1. Mark Hughes did manage Wales
2. Micah Richards did a bit more than swear in his career and is a very good pundit
I bloody love Micah.
Just remind me if this comes true ...
@Will_Unwin
— krish (@vkmagus) November 30, 2019
France is set to repeat it's WC - Euro winning of 1998 - 2000
Zizou then and Mbappe now
Pin this tweet and we shall confirm next summer
Our man Ed Aarons is there ...
All set for the Euro 2020 draw in rainy Bucharest. Starts at 5pm Uk time pic.twitter.com/8S0fCV8asb
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) November 30, 2019
Very much the tournament’s slogan ...
@Will_Unwin Anything but Baku Rome Baku. 🏴
— Alun 🏴 🕷 (@Dic_Penderyn) November 30, 2019
Bilbao and Dublin is the best collection of host cities, really. Mark Chapman is trying to explain the draw but does not seem convinced.
Here is our explanation.
The actual draw should start in about 20 minutes. It is supposed to take around an hour but will almost certainly take longer.
Here we go! This is exciting, to some extent.
I wrote this before Finland qualified but it still makes sense ...
And here is a team-by-team guide ...
Preamble
Good evening!
Is there anything better than a long, drawn-out couple of hours of balls being plucked from buckets?
There will be a parade of former international turning up in their shiny suits for a small fee, some chitter chatter on stage and the pride of picking Ukraine out of a hat.
Bucharest must be ruddy freezing at the moment, which will make it easier to spot the hot balls. We actually already know which group some of the teams will be in, as they are hosting some of the tournament which is spread across Europe, so hopefully that will cut down how long this whole process takes.
I am mainly hoping there is a parade of the Romania ’94 World Cup squad, and if there isn’t I will be writing a lengthy lesson.
There is a lot to take in, so here is a guide to the big show:
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