The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...
, the quadrennial international men's
football championship of Europe organised by
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
. It was held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016.
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
were the two-time defending champions, having won the
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
tournaments, but were eliminated in the round of 16 by
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
won the tournament for the first time, following a 1–0 victory after extra time over the host team,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, in
the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
played at the
Stade de France.
For the first time, the European Championship final tournament was contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since
1996. Under the new format, the finalists contested a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout phase including three rounds and the final. Nineteen teams – the top two from each of the nine qualifying groups and the best third-placed team – joined France in the final tournament, who qualified automatically as host; a series of two-legged play-off ties between the remaining third-placed teams in November 2015 decided the last four finalist spots.
France was chosen as the host nation on 28 May 2010, after a
bidding process in which they beat Italy and Turkey for the right to host the 2016 finals. The matches were played in ten stadiums in ten cities:
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
,
Lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device which 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 ...
,
Lille Métropole
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
,
Décines-Charpieu
Décines-Charpieu (; frp, Dessines) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. The name of the city is often shortened and simply called Décines.
Geography
Décines is located near Grand Large res ...
,
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
,
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
Saint-Denis,
Saint-Étienne, and
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
. It was the third time that France hosted the finals, after the
inaugural tournament in 1960 and the
1984 finals.
As the winners, Portugal earned the right to compete at the
2017 FIFA Confederations Cup
The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...
in Russia.
Bid process
Four bids came before the deadline on 9 March 2009. France, Italy and Turkey put in single bids while Norway and Sweden put in a joint bid. Norway and Sweden eventually withdrew their bid in December 2009.
The host was selected on 28 May 2010.
* Round 1: Each of the thirteen members of the UEFA Executive Committee ranked the 3 bids first, second, and third. First place ranking received 5 points, second place 2 points, and third place 1 point. Executive members from the countries bidding were not allowed to vote.
* Round 2: The same thirteen-member committee voted for either of the two finalists.
Qualification
![UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/UEFA_Euro_2016_qualifying_map.svg)
The qualifying draw took place at the
Palais des Congrès Acropolis
The Palais des Congrès Acropolis (formerly known as Parc Expo) is a convention center located in Nice, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Over ...
in
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
, on 23 February 2014,
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 primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, who automatically qualified as hosts.
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
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 seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in w ...
s, with the
Euro 2012
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...
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 football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. H ...
, 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 football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...
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 (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
.
Qualified teams
Thirteen of the sixteen teams (including hosts France) that qualified for
Euro 2012
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...
qualified again for the 2016 final tournament. Among them were
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, who became only the sixth team to record a flawless qualifying campaign (10 wins in 10 matches),
defending European champions
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, and world champions
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, who qualified for their 12th straight European Championship finals.
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
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
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...
.
Returning to the final tournament after long absences were
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
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 ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning 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 ...
for the first time in 44 years, having last appeared at
Euro 1972
The 1972 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Belgium. This was the fourth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 14 and 18 June 1972.
Only four ...
, and 30 years since appearing in a major tournament, their previous one being the
1986 FIFA World Cup.
Five teams secured their first qualification to a UEFA European Championship final tournament:
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
,
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 s ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
.
Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales had each previously competed in the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, while Albania and Iceland had never participated in a major tournament.
Similarly, both
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
completed successful qualification campaigns for the first time, having only previously qualified as hosts (of
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
respectively).
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
were the only team from the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the 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 and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
not to qualify for the finals, and it also marked the first time that both Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
qualified for the same major tournament finals.
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, champions in 2004, finished bottom in their group and failed to qualify for the first time since 2000. Two other previous champions, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
(1988) and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
(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 football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...
and only 16 months after having finished third at the
2014 FIFA World Cup. Denmark did not appear at the Euro finals for the first time
since 2008, after losing in the play-off round against
Sweden.
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, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
on 12 December 2015, 18:00
CET
CET or cet may refer to:
Places
* Cet, Albania
* Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus
* Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Comcast En ...
.
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 seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in w ...
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 had to choose which nine would actually be used.
The choice for the first seven was undisputed – the national
Stade de France, four newly constructed ones in
Lille Metropole (
Villeneuve-d'Ascq
Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; pcd, Neuvile-Ask) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métropole Européenne de Lille and the largest in area (2 ...
),
Décines-Charpieu
Décines-Charpieu (; frp, Dessines) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. The name of the city is often shortened and simply called Décines.
Geography
Décines is located near Grand Large res ...
(
Lyon Metropolis
The Metropolis of Lyon (french: Métropole de Lyon), also known as ("Greater Lyon"), is a French territorial collectivity located in the east-central region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is a directly elected metropolitan authority encompassing t ...
),
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
and
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, 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, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
. After
Strasbourg opted out for financial reasons following relegation, two more venues were selected to be
Lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device which 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
Saint-Étienne and
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
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 in
Nantes and the
Stade de la Mosson
The Stade de la Mosson () is a 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 host 6 games of the 1998 ...
in
Montpellier (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 that used in 2012 with the addition of two extra groups in the group stage, and an extra round in the knockout phases. The six groups (A to F) still contained four teams each, with the top two from each group still going through to the knockout phase. In the new format, however, the four best third-ranked sides also progress, leaving 16 teams going into the new round-of-16 knockout phases, ahead of the usual quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, and only 8 teams going out at the group stage.
The format is exactly the one that was applied to the
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
, 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 ...
s, except for the absence of a
third place play-off
A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The te ...
.
This format generates a total of 51 matches, compared with 31 matches for the previous 16-team tournament, to be played over a period of 31 days.
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
's general secretary
Gianni Infantino
Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. H ...
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 need to progress out of the group, leading to 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 must 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 would be replaced by another player.
Match officials
On 15 December 2015, UEFA named eighteen
referees
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
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
Viktor Kassai (''Kassai Viktor'', Hungarian pronunciation: ; born 10 September 1975) is a Hungarian football official and a former referee who is the current head of refereeing department of the Bulgarian Football Union. He participated in the ...
was chosen to officiate the opener between France and Romania.
English referee
Mark Clattenburg
Mark Clattenburg (born 13 March 1975) is an English professional football referee.
Clattenburg is a former member of the Premier League and the Durham County Football Association and also a former FIFA referee. He has refereed a number of nota ...
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
![Uefa Euro 2016 Opening Ceremony](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Uefa_Euro_2016_Opening_Ceremony.jpg)
An hour before the first match at the
Stade de France on 10 June 2016, 20:00
CEST CEST or cest may refer to:
* Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone
* Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory
* Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
, 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 Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars.
Pia ...
was played. Following this, French DJ
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
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 pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recognit ...
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, trailing the French blue, white, and red. The ceremony also featured a tribute to the victims of the
November 2015 Paris attacks. Following the ceremony, the hosts
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
beat
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
2-1 in the opening game of the tournament.
Group stage
![UEFA Euro 2016 map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/UEFA_Euro_2016_map.svg)
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 each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
.
''All times are local,
CEST CEST or cest may refer to:
* Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone
* Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory
* Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
(
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. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...
).''
Tiebreakers
If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria would be 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 would be 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 would apply;
# 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 would be 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 would not be 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 seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in w ...
ranking system.
Group A
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Group B
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----
Group C
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----
Group D
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----
Group E
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----
Group F
----
----
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout phase
In the knockout phase,
extra time 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
A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The te ...
.
''All times are local,
CEST CEST or cest may refer to:
* Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone
* Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory
* Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
(
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. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...
).''
Bracket
Round of 16
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----
----
----
----
----
----
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
Antoine Griezmann (; born 21 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team. A versatile player, Griezmann is known for his attacking, passing, and supporti ...
, who was chosen by UEFA's technical observers, led by UEFA chief technical officer
Ioan Lupescu
Ioan "Ionuț" Angelo Lupescu (born 9 December 1968) is a Romanian former football player who played as a midfielder and a manager.
Club career
Ioan Lupescu, nicknamed ''Kaiserul'' was born on 9 December 1968 in Bucharest, Romania and started to ...
and including
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...
and
Alain Giresse
Alain Jean Giresse (; born 2 August 1952) is a French football coach and former player who is the current manager of the Kosovo national team. He was French Player of the Year in 1982, 1983 and 1987. Nominally an attacking midfielder or central ...
.
*
Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann (; born 21 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team. A versatile player, Griezmann is known for his attacking, passing, and supporti ...
;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
Renato Júnior Luz Sanches (; born 18 August 1997) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the Portugal national football team, ...
who was named above
Kingsley Coman
Kingsley Junior Coman (; born 13 June 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Bayern Munich and the France national team.
Trained at Paris Saint-Germain's academy, Coman moved to Juventus in 2014 on the exp ...
and Portugal teammate
Raphaël Guerreiro
Raphaël Adelino José Guerreiro (; born 22 December 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as left-back or as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Portugal national team.
He began his career at Caen, signing in 2 ...
. The particular player, who deserved the award, was also chosen by UEFA's technical observers.
*
Renato Sanches
Renato Júnior Luz Sanches (; born 18 August 1997) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the Portugal national football team, ...
–
;Golden Boot
The Golden Boot was awarded to
Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann (; born 21 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team. A versatile player, Griezmann is known for his attacking, passing, and supporti ...
, who scored one goal in the group stage and five in the knockout phase.
*
Antoine Griezmann
Antoine Griezmann (; born 21 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team. A versatile player, Griezmann is known for his attacking, passing, and supporti ...
– 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 footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
, who scored two goals in the group stage and one in the knockout phase, as well as providing three assists.
*
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
– 3 goals, 3 assists (625 minutes)
;Bronze Boot
The Bronze Boot was awarded to
Olivier Giroud
Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...
, who scored one goal in the group stage and two in the knockout phase, as well as providing two assists; compatriot
Dimitri Payet
Dimitri Payet (; born 29 March 1987) is a French professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Marseille. A set-piece specialist, known for his accurate, bending free kicks, he primarily plays as an attacking midfielder, and is described a ...
amassed the same tally, but played 50 more minutes than Giroud.
*
Olivier Giroud
Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...
– 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 footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He played for Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencváros and West Bromwich Alb ...
'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
Xherdan Shaqiri (; born 10 October 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire and the Switzerland national team.
Shaqiri began his career at FC Basel, winning honours including ...
'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 footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He played for Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencváros and West Bromwich Alb ...
(vs
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
)
*Technical observers:
Xherdan Shaqiri
Xherdan Shaqiri (; born 10 October 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire and the Switzerland national team.
Shaqiri began his career at FC Basel, winning honours including ...
(vs
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
)
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
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
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, 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
rench
The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of the ...
state".
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 lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
. On 10 June, English fans at
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
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 ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...
, 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, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
, 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 (also known as 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, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural t ...
es at French stadiums were criticised during the group stage for their poor quality. France coach
Didier Deschamps
Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...
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
St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...
in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
during
Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...
.
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 paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
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 footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
'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
, is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...
as a free
DLC on ''
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016
''Pro Evolution Soccer 2016'' (abbreviated as ''PES 2016'', marketed as ''Winning Eleven 2016'' in Japan) is a football simulation game developed by PES Productions and published by Konami for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox ...
''. 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 by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
,
PlayStation 4,
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
,
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 base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
and
Microsoft Windows).
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 (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
. 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 (french: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men's international football matches. It is governed by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is ...
, with a red cape at the back, to echo the colours of the
flag of France. The cape, boots and ball are claimed to be the child's superpowers. The mascot first appeared during the match between France and
Sweden at the
Stade Vélodrome,
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
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
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
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 human 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-vibratin ...
. 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 music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
featuring
Zara Larsson
Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recognit ...
, 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) is located at the
Paris expo Porte de Versailles
The Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is an exhibition and conference centre in Paris, France. It is located in the 15th arrondissement at Porte de Versailles Métro station between the Boulevard Périphérique and Boulevards of the Marshals. It ...
in
Paris' 15th arrondissement.
References
External links
UEFA Euro 2016at UEFA.com
Official Technical Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uefa Euro 2016
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...
2015–16 in French football
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
June 2016 sports events in France
July 2016 sports events in France