Euro 2024 Matchday One Preview

Picture Credit @UEFA.com

After a few quiet weeks in the football world, it is finally time for Euro 2024!

So, consult you wall chart, grab your favorite pint from the country that is playing, gather your family and friends on the sofa and try not to annoy missus too much during this festival of football.

This is my guide to matchday one of the European Championship in Germany.

GROUP A

Germany V Scotland   -    Friday 14th June, Munich, 8pm on ITV

Euro 2024 kicks off at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday night with an enticing opener.

The hosts will be comfortable favorites over a Scottish team that have only won one in their last eight matches.

However, Scotland qualified impressively having recorded a famous 2-0 win over Spain at Hampden Park before taking four points off an emerging Norway side that is blessed with individual talent.

Suggesting that the Scots will have an early ticket home is an easy jibe to make. Afterall, Scotland have never made the knockout stages of a major tournament.

But their squad is packed with battle hardened Premier League, Championship and Celtic players who can make it out of this group.

A good performance in Munich will give them confidence going into the bigger matches with Switzerland and Hungary.

For Germany, this home tournament couldn’t have come at a better time having been knocked out in the group stages in Qatar and the last 16 of Euro 2020.

Continuous bad results forced the DFB to fire Hansi Flick (newly appointed at Barcelona). It became the first managerial sacking in German National team history.

Julian Nagelsmann has since taken over, and despite a fractious start, he stabilised the squad by beating France twice and the Netherlands since September.

The return of Toni Kroos has aided their revival as has the emergence of Florian Wirtz on the world stage.

The 21-year-old has scored 18 goals in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen and led them to an unbeaten Bundesliga title and winning the Pokal.

The Germans should win this group on home soil which will leave others to fight it out over second place and the best third placed places.

Once the knockout rounds begin, Germany will be formidable despite their issues in the last four years. As the adage goes “Never write off the Germans”.

Hungary V Switzerland    -    Saturday 15th June, Cologne, 2pm on ITV

Hungary come into Euro 2024 with only one defeat in their last 18 matches.

The beginning of this run included destroying England 4-0 away from home and taking four points off Germany in the Nations League.

Since then, Hungary comfortably topped their qualifying group and finished unbeaten ahead of Serbia. It was the first time they had won a European qualification group in their history.

Hungary’s hopes will rely on their captain, Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai.

According to Tom Mortimer in the Guardian, his influence on Hungary is comparable to the great Ferenc Puskas and that is before you get into modern comparisons with Gareth Bale.

His creativity will be key to break down a historically stubborn Swiss team. This match may not be pretty to the eye but will be influential on who advances behind Germany into the last 16.

The Swiss go into this match off the back of an uninspiring qualification campaign.

They finished second behind Romania but only managed to win four of their 10 games after drawing twice with Kosovo and then Belarus and Israel.

Since the turn of the year their form has improved in their warm-up matches. Respectable draws against Denmark and Austria have bookended wins against Ireland and Estonia.

Those wins may not stir the blood, but Switzerland have a habit turning up for major tournaments and regularly take the scalp of a tournament favourite.

Expect the Swiss reach the knockout rounds as they have done in the previous five major tournaments.

GROUP B

Spain V Croatia    -    Saturday 15th June, Berlin, 5pm on ITV

From a neutral’s perspective, Spain v Croatia should be the most competitive and intriguing of the fixtures on matchday 1.

Spain have youth on their side having rebuilt from a disappointing early exit in the World Cup two years ago.

Gavi will miss out on this tournament due to an ACL injury.

But when you consider that talents like Pedri and Lamine Yamal are still being churned out by Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy then there is no reason why Spain can’t become the dominant force again in international football in the coming years.

The Spanish also have plenty of experience. Dani Carvajal has just won his sixth Champions League and fourth La Liga with Real Madrid. Fomer Manchester City man Aymeric Laporte will return to make up a solid defence.

There are weaknesses, of course. Spain do lack the prolific goal scorer that France and England have.

Alvaro Morata is expected lead the Spanish attack at Euro 2024 and despite what those on English shores believe, the Atletico Madrid forward has scored 21 goals in all competitions this season.

Then there’s Rodri who has been instrumental in winning another Premier League title with Manchester City and thought of as the best midfielder in Europe.

This is only underlined by the fact he was unbeaten in 73 English domestic matches before the FA Cup final. In this regard, Rodri is the heir to Luka Modric’s throne.

Euro 2024 will probably be Croatian captains last major international tournament and the last hurrah for an aging squad that is set to decline in the coming years.

However, for a team representing a country of 3.8m people their recent history is impressive.

World finalists in 2018, semifinalists in 2022 and runners up in the Nations League having lost to Spain on penalties.

Croatia narrowly finished second in qualification after losing to eventual group winners Turkey and then Wales in last two matches.

They arrive at Euro 2024 unbeaten in their last six warmup matches including an impressive win against dark horses Portugal.

Whilst the Croatians have never quite performed the heroics in a Euros as they have in a World Cup, they should be able to qualify through one of the best third placed spots despite being drawn in the tournaments group of death.

Italy V Albania     -    Saturday 15th June, Dortmund, 8pm on BBC

The Azurri come into another European Championship unfancied despite their decorated history.

Their absence from the last two World Cups and an uninspiring qualification campaign for Euro 2024 seems to have negated the fact that they are reigning European Champions.

Their defence has changed considerably. The legendary centre-back partnership of Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini won’t be available in Germany.

Nor will Francesco Acerbi or Giorgio Scalvini who suffered an unfortunate ACL injury in the last game of the Serie A season.

Nonetheless, the Italians have a dearth of defensive talent that the likes of England can only dream of in an ‘injury crisis’.

Alessandro Bastoni - considered to be one of the best defenders in the world - and Giovanni Di Lorenzo will both feature heavily having both won Serie A with Inter and Napoli in the last two years.

Inter’s scudetto winning midfield will be well represented with Davide Frattesi and Nicolo Barella.

Juventus’s Federico Chiesa is enjoying a resurgence since a career threatening injury in 2022.

Chiesa was instrumental for Juventus as they won the Coppa Italia but more importantly for posted his best goal scoring season with 10 goals from 37 appearances.

There are issues up front. The Italians no longer seem to be developing quality forwards in the mould of a Vieri, Totti or Del Piero.

Instead, Gianluca Scamacca looks set to lead the attack at Euro 2024. Despite suffering a torrid time playing in the Premier League, he did win the Conference League at West Ham.

Scamacca has scored 19 goals in all competitions on his return to Atalanta and was impressive in the Europa League final when they beat all conquering Bayer Leverkusen 3-0.

Reading this you must wonder why the Italians have suffered at all in the last few years.

Nonetheless, they’re European Champions and should get off to a strong start against Albania before the bigger games come against Spain and Croatia.

It’s fair to say that the Albanians will be up against it in Group C having only beaten Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan in their four warm up matches. Harder matches in March against Chile and Sweden both resulted in defeats.

Nonetheless, the Albanians earned their right to be at their second European Championship by winning their group and beating the Czech Republic and Poland in doing so.

Their hopes of causing an upset will be dependent on Armando Broja who has played for Fulham, Chelsea and Southampton in the last few years.

Midfielder Kristian Asllani will also be important. Although he been mostly used as a squad player at Inter Milan since 2022, the experience of winning regular trophies in Italy will be invaluable for Albanians in what is three cup finals at Euro 2024.

GROUP C

Slovenia V Denmark     -    Sunday 16th June, Stuttgart, 5pm on ITV

Denmark and Slovenia know each other well having finished first and second in the same qualifying group.

Both encounters were close matches with the teams drawing 1-1 in Slovenia and Denmark winning 2-1 in Copenhagen.

Despite losing their final qualifier against Northern Ireland, Denmark topped the group on head-to-head record.

Since that defeat the Danes are flying having beaten the Faroe Islands and then winning two Scandinavian derbies against Norway and Sweden.

This Danish squad is packed full of talent across the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga. As ever they are solid at the back and experienced in midfield where Christen Eriksen and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are expected to start.

The Danes main attacking threats will come from Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund and Wolfsburg’s Jonas Wind.

There has been some concern in Denmark surrounding the lack of minutes for their key players. However, they should at least reach the last 16 here with those available.

This will erase the disappointments of Qatar when they were knocked out at the group stages.

If they can rediscover the spirit of Euro 2020 then they’re more than capable of beating the bigger nations and making a run to the latter stages of the competition.

The Slovenian’s have been inconsistent during the warmup matches. In March they drew with Malta but then beat Portugal 2-0 four days later.  They then beat Armenia 2-1 before drawing 1-1 with Bulgaria at the beginning of June.

Slovenia are the underdogs of this group having only reached four major tournaments in the history.

However, Jan Oblak of Atletico Madrid is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and 21-year-old striker Benjamin Šeško was attracting the attention of Europe’s major clubs before deciding to sign a new contract at RB Leipzig last week.

Slovenia will be competitive in Group C especially against Denmark and Šeško may fancy his chances against an uninspiring English defence.

However, it is their matchday two game against Serbia that maybe the most interesting. A derby between two nations that have historical and political links from the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.

Serbia V England     -     Sunday 16th June, Gelsenkirchen, 8pm on BBC

Serbia have had a rough couple of years since the last World Cup.

They only managed a draw against Cameroon in Qatar and were beaten by Brazil and Switzerland to earn them an early flight home.

Serbia did manage to finish second behind Hungary in one of the easiest Euro 2024 qualifying groups, but uninspiring performances meant they barely made it to Germany.

In the warmup matches Serbia were thrashed 4-0 by Russia, narrowly lost 2-1 to Austria, narrowly beat Cyprus 1-0 but comfortably beat Sweden 3-0. It’s the kind of results that make you wonder who Serbia are.

Nonetheless, you look at their squad and see a list of talented and recognisable names even if they’re no longer at their peak.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had been on the radar of every major European club since arriving at Lazio in 2015.

After becoming their highest ever goalscoring midfielder – a record previously held by Pavel Nedved – he moved to Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League last summer for €40m.

Milinkovic-Savic is joined in the squad by his brother Vanja, who is expected to keep his place in goal ahead of Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Fiorentina’s Nicola Milenkovic was also linked with a host of Premier Clubs including Spurs in previous summers but has since reached two Conference League Finals with the Italian club.

Sasa Lukic currently plays for Fulham and will probably start against England in midfield alongside Nemanja Gudelj of Sevilla.

He will be joined with Dusan Tadic and Aleksandar Mitrovic who also have Premier League experience with Southampton and Fulham.

We must also not forget Dušan Vlahović. He was heavily courted by Arsenal prior to signing with Juventus from Fiorentina in 2022 for €70m.

Many have described his time in Turin as disappointing after suffering with several hamstring injuries.

However, Vlahović has still scored 77 goals in seven seasons in Serie A, as well as the winning goal in this seasons Coppa Italia Final.

Perhaps, it is these injuries that have prevented him from being recognised as a world class striker and may also cost him a starting place at Euro 2024.

England come into Euro 2024 in a peculiar position. The Europeans rate this team more than the English, regularly arguing that this is a better crop of players than the ‘golden generation’.

England breezed through qualifying undefeated, scored 22 goals and only conceded four. They also avenged their Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy, winning 2-1 in Naples and 3-1 at Wembley.

Declan Rice has reached world class status since his move to Arsenal, Phil Foden won his 6th Premier League title with Manchester City at the age of 24 and Jude Bellingham is in Ballon d’or territory at the age of 26 having won a Champions League and La Liga title at Real Madrid.

Harry Kane is widely considered to be the best number 9 in the game having scored 44 goals for Bayern Munich in all competitions.

So, what’s the problem?

Firstly, lets concentrate on the football. Much of it comes down to a leaky defence and the tactics of manager Gareth Southgate.

Kyle Walker will start at right back but there are otherwise major concerns at centre back and left back.

Luke Shaw has been selected but with questions over his fitness and a lack of natural left footed full backs, it is expected that Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier will start in against Serbia. Despite being a natural right back, Southgate has trusted him in this position in the past.

At centre back John Stones also had fitness worries. He is expected to recover but the question is who replaces Harry Maguire after being left out the squad after a calf injury?

Marc Guéhi will probably get nod. Despite suffering a knee injury during mid-season, he has been excellent for Crystal Palace.

Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa, Lewis Dunk of Brighton and Joe Gomez of Liverpool were also selected, edging out Everton’s Jarrad Brainthwaite.

Southgate’s in game tactics and style of play are another issue. It is felt that England could have their first title since 1966 had he been more tactically astute during the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and Euro 2020 Final.

Whilst this tournament may be Southgate’s last it should be noted that players have had fun playing for England again.

He repaired the damage of failed England teams through engagement. Making sure that the players coexisted and that rivalries between the top clubs were left at the door.

He granted the media more access. Allowing journalists to tell more human stories about those representing the country.

For some time, this removed the scrutiny that often-suffocated England in major tournaments.

This has unfortunately crept back into the media in the last few weeks.

An uninspiring win against Bosnia and defeat to Iceland led many back pages single out black players like Bukayo Saka (who played 23 minutes) despite being one of the nation’s best players in the last few years.

Whether the English media have grown tired of the grace it has shown its national team down the years remains to be seen.

However, nothing other than a Semi-final will be deemed acceptable for this talented England team. Even in glorious failure - like much of England’s history – it still may not be deemed good enough.

GROUP D

Poland V Netherlands      -     Sunday 16th June, Hamburg, 2pm on BBC

On paper Group D should rival Group B for the tag of the group of death. However, the Poles suffered greatly in qualifying finishing third in their group behind Albania and the Czech Republic.

This meant that they were reliant on the playoffs. Poland comfortably beat Estonia 5-1 in their semi final before enduring a nerve-racking penalty shootout victory in Wales to progress to Euro 2024.

Their form in has greatly improved in their two home warm up matches against Ukraine and Turkey.

Poland are often labelled as boring by those in the media but these matches were not, resulting in 3-1 and 2-1 wins.

Poland will of course be reliant on the goals of Robert Lewandowski to reach the knockout stages.

However, despite his advancing years, Lewandowski shows little sign of slowing down after scoring 26 goals in all competitions for Barcelona this season.

The Netherlands come to Euro 2024 on good form overall. They finished second to France in qualifying having lost both of their games to them.

However, the Dutch recovered well from these defeats by beating every other team in the group including nail biting away wins in Greece and Ireland.

If there is criticism of the Dutch, it is their ability to beat the larger nations. So often in major tournaments they perform superbly in the group stages only to be beaten in the knockout stages by the first quality team they play against.

These results against the elite have continued. Losing their Nations League Semi finals and third place playoff against Croatia and Italy last summer.

Fourth place is nothing to be sniffed at, but they also have recently lost to Germany in the warmups for Euro 2024.

However, they have also thrashed Scotland, Canada and Iceland in the past few months. So, you would expect the Dutch to beat Austria and Poland to advance to the knockout stages.

Nathan Ake, Matthijs De Ligt and Virgil Van Dijk set to play at starring role in defence. Such is their array of talent at the back you could argue that any of those selected would walk into an English defence right now.

The Dutch are also strong up front with the Memphis Depay and Cody Gakpo thought to start the first game. They are backed up by Xavi Simons, Steven Bergwijn and super sub Wout Weghorst.

Theres no doubt the Dutch have one of the most balanced squads in this tournament and should be one of the most entertaining.

However, it is their game against France in matchday two and beyond is where we will find out how good they really are.

Austria V France     -     Monday 17th June, Dusseldorf, 8pm on ITV

Ralf Ragnick’s Austrian team arrive at Euro 2024 in superb form having only lost twice since September 2022.

These defeats came against Croatia in the Nations League and Belgium in the penultimate game in qualifying.

Austria was edged into second in the group having beaten Sweden twice and then followed this achievement by beating Germany last November, thrashing Turkey 6-1 and then beating Slovakia and Serbia.

Hopes of causing a major upset in Germany were subdued after losing their captain, David Alaba and Xavi Schlager to serious ACL injuries.

The performances of Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer and Bayern Munich’s Konrad Laimer will be crucial if the Austrians are to trouble the Netherlands or France.

Then again, their performances over the last two years have shown they are more than capable of doing so.

Les Blues’ are the undisputed favorites for Euro 2024 having been denied a third World Cup in that final against Argentina and Lionel Messi.

Since Qatar, the French have navigated the retirements of Hugo Lloris and Raphael Varane and replaced them with ease.

Mike Maignan only conceded three goals in qualifying and the defence in front of him is so strong that William Saliba’s performances for Arsenal are set to be ignored for Dayot Upamencano and Ibrahima Konate.

The French won their qualifying group with ease scoring 29 goals which included a 14-0 victory against minnows Gibraltar.

Their only dropped points came against Greece in their last qualifying match when the group was secured.

The French did suffer a 2-0 defeat to hosts Germany in the warmup matches but have since beaten Chile 3-2 and Luxembourg 3-0. Their last game was an uninspiring 0-0 with Canada.

However, when it comes to tournament matches the French know how to win.

Their squad has an abundance of title winners from Europe’s major leagues in the last two years and includes three players (Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Ferland Mendy) who lifted another Champions League for Real Madrid.

Then there’s Kylian. Mbappé finally got his move to Real Madrid this summer after scoring 44 goals in all competitions for Paris St-Germain.

In fact, he has never dropped below the 30-goal mark since his first season with the French champions in the 2017/18 season.

If France do not win a second European title, then it be because the team that defeats them have successfully nullified Mbappé.

However, even Argentina did not manage to do that in Qatar. They just had Lionel Messi. And without a European or human equivalent it is hard to see past France winning this tournament.

GROUP E

Romania V Ukraine   -    Monday 17th June, Munich, 2pm on BBC

Euro 2024 will be Romania’s first major tournament since Euro 2016.

They arrive in Germany having won one of the easiest qualification groups that consisted of Switzerland, Israel, Belarus, Androrra and Kosovo.

Their form coming into this tournament is sketchy at best having lost to Colombia and drawn three games against Liechtenstein, Bulgaria and Northern Ireland.

Romania’s best-known player is Radu Dragusin who moved to Tottenham in January and will play in the heart for the Romanian defence.

Romania’s captain Nicolae Stanciu currently plays in Saudi Pro League. The midfielder is viewed as their best hope of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Stanciu will also bear the burden of wearing Gheorghe Hagi’s number 10 shirt in Germany. However, he will not be alone.

According to Emanuel Rossi in the Guardian, a third of Romania’s squad for Euro 2024 have attended Hagi’s footballing academy.

This also includes his son Ianis who scored a winning goal against Israel to secure qualification.

The Ukrainians come into this tournament as the Europe’s second team. Russia’s invasion has led to the partial destruction of the nation’s sporting infrastructure.

The Ukrainian Premier League was completed.

However, European competitions - including ‘home’ games for the national team - have been played in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic since war broke out.

Ukraine finished third behind England and Italy in their qualifying group, but it should have been more.

A highly contestable VAR decision in the final minute of their last match would have sent Italy into the playoffs.

However, the Ukrainians recovered and beat Bosnia and Iceland to secure their participation at Euro 2024.

34-year-old Andriy Yarmolenko is set to star in another tournament as he done in previous years. And despite a tormenting season at Chelsea, Mykhailo Mudryk is invaluable for Ukraine.

Ukraine should reach the knockout stages from this group and in doing so will win the hearts and minds of football supporters across Europe.

Belgium V Slovakia     -   Monday 17th June, Frankfurt, 5pm on ITV

The only thing that stopped the Belgian golden generation was themselves.

Despite having an array of talent across the pitch over the last three tournaments the Red Devils were never able to get past Semi Final.

Much of this has been laid at the door of former manager Roberto Martinez but it is also due to infighting and ego in the camp.

This has not changed with a new manager who has managed to fall out with Thibaut Courtois. From a neutrals perspective it is unfathomable that one of the best keepers in the world will not feature at Euro 2024.

Nonetheless, Belgium was strong in qualifying, finishing top their group ahead of resurgent Austria and Sweden.

Whilst much has changed in goal and defence, many of Belgium’s midfielders and forwards remain.

Kevin De Bruyne won another Premier League title and Youri Tielemans helped Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League.

Orel Mangala and Amadou Onana have also performed well at Nottingham Forest and Everton.

Up front Jérémy Doku won his first title at Manchester City and Leandro Trossard has been worth every penny that Arsenal paid Brighton, reaching double figures for the club this season.

Romelu Lukaku will inevitably lead the attack again. Despite being criticised for his performance in Qatar, Lukaku has scored 21 goals in all competitions for Roma.

More importantly Lukaku is at his most prolific in a Belgian shirt. He scored 14 goals in qualifying, breaking a European Championship record.

Overall, he has scored 85 goals for the national team becoming Belgium’s record goal scorer.

Slovakia qualified for their third straight European Championship by finishing second behind Portugal.

Their only defeat during the warmups was against Austria. Since then, the Slovakians drew against a talented Norway team before comfortably beating Wales and San Marino.

Martin Dubravka will start in goal despite being an understudy at Newcastle this season.

Milan Skriniar –now at Paris St Germain – will be an experienced head for Slovakia having won Serie A and and Ligue 1 in recent years.

Ondrej Duda and Stanislav Lobotka will be tasked with replacing the creativity of legend Marek Hamsik, who retired from football at the end of the 2023 season.

Whilst the draw has been kind to Slovakia, they come to Germany with the oldest team in the competition. The average age of their favoured starting 11 is 30 years old.

However, Leo Sauer, 18, from Feyenoord, could be effective from the bench after becoming the youngest capped Slovakian player in their history.

The young winger has already played 15 Eredivisie matches this season and could be one to watch.

GROUP F

Turkey V Georgia    -    Tuesday 18th June, Dortmund, 5pm on BBC

Turkey impressively won their qualifying group ahead of Croatia to reach their third consecutive European Championship.

However, their form in the warmup matches for Euro 2024 has been poor. In the March internationals Turkey were beaten by Hungary and then thrashed by Austria.

A respectable draw with Italy eased fears at the beginning of June but then lost in their final match 2-1 against Poland.

Historically in tournaments, Turkey have either fluttered with brilliance or been a complete failure. It is this inconsistency that has prevented a football mad country of 84 million people from ever gaining a foothold in the international game.

Nonetheless, Turkey come to Euro 2024 with a talented young squad. Ahmetcan Kaplan of Ajax, Kenyan Yildiz of Juventus and Arda Guler of Real Madrid all provide hopes for the future.

But it is Hakan Calhanoglu who will provide the most threat. The 30-year-old has just won Serie A at Inter Milan and is deadly from set pieces.

In a group where tight games may be the norm, Calhanoglu may provide the key to Turkeys progression.

Georgia have taken the long road to Euro 2024 qualification. Historically, finishing fourth in a qualifying group would entitle this nation to watch the tournament on their sofas from afar.

However, since the inception of the Nations League, UEFA has rewarded high performing smaller nations with the opportunity to reach for the stars.

Georgia won their Nations League division back in September 2022 defeating Gibraltar, Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

In the playoffs - nearly 18 months later - they defeated Luxembourg in their Semi Final before surprisingly beating Greece on penalties in the final.

This will be their first attendance at a major tournament. But do not be surprised if they take a scalp along the way.

Their goalkeeper Giorgi Marmardasvilli has been Valencia’s number one for the last three years and could well be on his way to Newcastle this summer if transfer links are to be believed.

Then there’s 23-year-old Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Napoli. He was instrumental in winning the club’s first Scudetto in 33 years in 2023 scoring 11 goals from the wing.

The 2024 season has been a frustrating one. Despite scoring 11 goals, Napoli only finished 10th in Serie A.

However, it would not be a surprise to see Kvaratskhelia making a big money move in the coming years.

Portugal V Czech Republic    -     Tuesday 18TH June, Leipzig, 8pm on BBC

Portugal had a perfect qualifying campaign winning all 10 matches, scoring 36 goals and only conceding two.

It was the perfect recipe after a temperamental World Cup when they were eliminated by Morocco in the Quarter Finals.

Gone are the days when Portugal would be reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals and an element shithousery to make their way through tournaments. They’re fun to watch again,

This is a new attacking Portugal. One of the most balanced squads in the competition and one that really should make the latter stages of Euro 2024 under Roberto Martinez.

Most of the Portuguese line up will consist of familiar names. Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Joao Palhinha, Bruno Fernandes and Bernado Silva all ply their trade in England at the time of writing.

The rest of the squad is a mixture of established talent from the Paris St Germain, Porto, Sporting and Benfica. This includes Pepe who will play in another major tournament at the old age of 41!

Rafael Leao - the speedster for AC Milan - will certainly star for Portugal having won trophies in Italy last year.

Portugal also has the option of Joao Felix - now at Barcelona – supremely talented but undermined by the £113 price tag that Atletico Madrid paid for him in 2019.

Ronaldo – despite a move to Saudi Arabia – is still the centre piece of this team. This will be his sixth European Championship and already holds the record for top goalscorer with 14 goals.

Ronaldo is the best European footballer of all time, and should the French fail to reach the latter stages, it is Portugal who could win their second European Championship.

The Czechs are unbeaten in their last seven matches heading into Euro 2024. They finished second behind Albania, narrowly missing out on top spot by goal difference.

West Ham duo Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek are the most recognisable Czech players for Premier League supporters and will both start.

You will remember Patrick Schick’s exploits from Euro 2020 when he scored an outrageous goal against Scotland on his way to sharing the golden boot with Ronaldo.

Schick and Adam Hlozek have just won Bayer Leverkusen’s first Bundesliga title after going the season unbeaten.

They also won the Pokal to complete a domestic double before losing in the Europa League final to Atalanta.

Slavia and Sparta Prague are well represented amongst a squad that is unlikely to have much of the ball against Portugal.

But the Czech Republic have become accomplished on the counter attack. If they’re able to frustrate the Portuguese attack on matchday one they could spring a surprise.

Note: This article has been extensively researched through google searches, the BBC, Sky Sports, The Guardian, The Athletic, The I, Sunday Mirror and podcasts such the Totally Football Show and the football daily.

IS SAUDI THE NEW VEGAS?

How the Saudi’s took advantage of a stagnating market to become boxing’s premier destination.

It’s difficult not to be seduced by Las Vegas. But it’s not because you’re here on your honeymoon. It’s fight week and Floyd Mayweather is top of the bill at the MGM Grand.

Huge amounts of money are about to be spent. Over $100m across casinos, hotels, and restaurants.

As the king of Vegas once said, “During fight weekend, you can shop, party, stay out late and do anything you want.”

Almost a decade later and much has changed for boxing in Vegas. Mayweather retired, apart from glorified fights with MMA or YouTube stars.

Sports gambling across America became popular and a long-held ban over the city hosting major franchises came to an end.

Formula One, Ice Hockey and the NFL moved in and established their market in Paradise.

Then, HBO and Showtime - two behemoths of American broadcasting - closed its doors to boxing, citing a “focus on other content priorities.”

Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder did fight for Vegas lineage during a heavyweight resurgence not seen since the 90’s.

But there wasn’t an heir that would claim residency in the entertainment capital of the world. Certainly not as Mike Tyson or Sugar Ray Leonard once did.

By 2023, it felt that boxing had missed the opportunity to crown its first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.

The champions Fury and Oleksander Usyk fought only once in the later part of the year and boxing’s sanctioning bodies – particularly the IBF – grew impatient.

Having provided the Ukrainian with special dispensation after war broke out, they decided to push Fury and Usyk to fight their mandatory challengers.

With respect to Filip Hrgovic, what fans craved were big names and fights across the card. Something for that would tempt fans to continually part with their hard-earned money.

But, boxing’s political rigmarole proved so problematic that even Vegas didn’t have the pull or financial clout to make undisputed happen.

Then, there was a breakthrough. February 17th in Riyadh was named for the biggest fight in decades.

The man responsible was Turki Alalshikh. The chairman of the board of directors of the general entertainment authority (GEA).

“He’s a real fight fan,” Eddie Hearn said of boxings game changer from Saudi Arabia.

“He’s like playing championship manager. It’s like you as a fan saying I want that player, and that player and then he goes and makes it happen.”  

Last months ‘Day of Reckoning’ featured 10 of the top 15 heavyweights on one night.

An event that encouraged Hearn and Frank Warren, Dazn and TNT to put aside their rivalry for the betterment of the sport.

It may have also set up a prize fight between Wilder and Anthony Joshua until Joseph Parker outclassed the bronze bomber.

However, last week, Alalshikh announced an intriguing concept that would take its place.

Matchroom and Queensbury promotions will go head-to-head to discover whose stable is the best.

In an official press release, Alalshikh said “This type of agreement is what boxing fans have been waiting for, as the best champions worldwide are going to be a part of the five-versus-five fight night.”

This innovation is more akin to WWE than boxing-events even if stable supremacy has been spoken in fantasy for decades.

This is all for Riyadh season, A celebration running from October to March that brings together music, entertainment, dining, and sport to promote Saudi Arabia.

The festival – now it’s fourth year – has boosted Saudi Arabia’s international visitors to 30m per year.

There are controversies, of course. Criticisms regarding atmosphere and the middle east’s involvement of sport are valid. But, boxing is a sport of excess and cares little of geopolitics.

Warren also told TNT that he is also unconcerned about the loss of big fights in the UK. “In my era, when someone wanted to make money, they went to the states.”

“They went to New York, then Vegas happened. The difference is you’re not going to see them at 5am in the morning. You’re gonna see them in prime time.”

As Bob Arum succinctly put it during an interview with Gareth A. Davies this week, “When there’s substantial money on the table, animosities dissolve, rival promoters collaborate, and athletes earn life changing purses.”

FOOTBALL. IT’S A HABIT, MAN

In an era of social media and 24-hour news reels, Luke Richards conducts a roundtable debate into whether the information age is turning ‘legacy fans’ away from the beautiful game.

“It’s terrible.” Mike Dwyer tells me as we discuss modern football.

Much has changed for the 48-year-old Arsenal fan that witnessed Michael Thomas’s last-minute winner at Anfield to win the 1989 Division One title.

“If you wanted to watch your team, you really had to go to the games,” he explains.

“Match of the Day was sporadic and Sky didn’t exist back then. So, to get what they were about you had to go to an actual game.”

“Once you had been a few times, the excitement of sitting in the Clock End or North Bank was massive. It was loads of fun and we had wicked times. I don’t think it’s like that now.”

Surely football fans have similar experiences all over the country, I ask. “I know it’s an old man thing to say,” he responds.

“But I don’t think football fans now have the mad tribal experience that we had. It’s all amplified by social media. It’s been cleansed by sponsorship and money.”

However, research by Oxford University in 2017 found that tribalism is stronger than ever amongst football fans. 

Supporters - regardless of attending games – still spend an enormous amount of time, energy, money, and commitment to their clubs.

This is reflected in the amount of football-related content that they consume. A change that has seen broadcasters develop new ways to appeal to an armchair generation who have been priced out of the match day experience.

The information age has had benefits for these fans. 24-hour news, social media and message groups keeps football fans more engaged and tribal than ever.

“I watch most games,” says Billy Davies, 46, a Spurs fan. “I’ve got BT, Sky and Amazon. I will watch every televised game. Even if I’m working, I will put it on the iPad on the desk in my office.”

“I reckon I spend 10-15 hours a week,” he says confidently. “For me that takes up a lot of my time. Especially when you have responsibilities.”

“I’m in Whatsapp groups that I spend a lot of time in,” Billy laughs, “You get sent links to memes on TikTok or Twitter that takes the piss out of the other team.”

For others like Claudio Costello, 46, an Arsenal season ticket holder, social media accompanies his football consumption.

“Saturday or Sunday is a football day for me,” he explains of his matchday ritual. “I meet up with my mates. You have a beer to soak up the atmosphere and talk about the game. Then do the same after.”

“I’m quite big on Twitter, especially during transfer season. Literally, on the train to work and back, so that’s at least another two hours a day.”

Instant access to journalists such as Fabrizio Romano has become a ritual for supporters, so it was interesting to divulge into the negative influences of social media.

“I don’t pay attention to the rubbish on social media because it’s not a reflection of how I think a lot of people in the stadium feel,” Claudio says on the rise of fan channels.

It starts a passionate debate.

Mike tells me, “These accounts hook on to something that makes them money.”

“AFTV gets paid per hit. When Arsenal had a shit game, their hits were a lot higher than when they were winning games. They thrived off the back of Arsenal losing.”

“There’re two different types of fans,” Billy insists. “Those old school diehards who go to the ground and then the online supporters who are vocal and get wound up.”

“They go out there and make their own news,” he expands. “They find people who are a bit outspoken, and video it because it makes good content. It’s pantomime… It’s not a reflection of the people on the terraces.”

They are passionate in their defence of tradition but concede they aren’t the target demographic for Youtubers.

The focus is on a younger generation who have grown tired of conventional football broadcasting and opinion.

It has led to broadcasters such as TalkSport and Sky changing how they cover football. “That is a marketing angle now. It works,” says Billy.

“Simon Jordan says something controversial; their main radio show has 2m live listeners, but that video that gets clipped and put on Twitter or TikTok gets 10m views.”

“It’s pure clickbait! Claudio shouts. “Those presenters are there to wind everybody up!”

“Look, I want to listen to sports talk. I want to listen to an actual debate. They manage to turn it into something that winds one set of fans up and then you get another barrage of fans calling up and biting on it.”

It becomes clear that supporters are now under an information bombardment from social media. I ask the roundtable whether this has affected their mood or home life.

“After the game, it doesn’t affect my mood. During the game, definitely,” Billy admits.

“If you put little patches that read my brain activity and my heart rate, there is a definitely a physiological and psychological effect of watching football when your team is doing well and not doing well.”

Claudio acknowledges that he feels worse if Arsenal lose to their rivals because of the grief he gets from colleagues at work.

He also confesses that he is banned from watching Arsenal when he’s at home.

“My misses hates it. I can’t help but act like I’m on the terraces. It used to be a massive issue. So, it’s better for me to be out of the house watching football.”

“It used to bother me a lot more,” Claudio continues. “But now, I can forget about it by the time I get home. It’s probably having kids.”

“When you are 18 or early 20’s it’s different,” Billy emphasises. “When you have children and a mortgage you can’t act like an immature kid anymore.”

The debate later digresses into the Super League and sportswashing. Issues that challenge the traditional values of football and value a new generation of supporter. The administrators of football know that there is more commercial value in the next generation.

Anas Lagharari explains in Apple TV’s ‘Super League: The War for Football:’ “There is so much volitivity in younger generations, 40 percent of them are saying they don’t even watch live sports.”

“Their interest is shifting to other types of content. People globally only follow the best players, the best teams and only play with those teams on the video games. We all need to adapt to the reality of today’s world.”

It is a view that is held by La Liga broadcasters. From next season, coverage will include eye catching graphics and data used by EA Sports in FIFA games.

Drones will be used to go behind the scenes and provide a more immersive experience with the aim of bringing younger audiences to the game.

Roger Brosel, head of programming and content, told Broadcast Sport, “Our goal is to try to extract all those little stories, little things that happened during the game, and offer them to the fans so that it’s not like 90 minutes of continuous action but little stories happening here and there.”

It is undeniable that ‘legacy fans’ and traditional broadcasters are struggling to understand or compete with new media such as YouTube and TikTok where short videos can gain thousands of hits.

As our discussion ends, I ask these ‘legacy fans’ if they could ever give up the club they love?

“It’s the constant in your life,” Claudio explains. “It’s the weekend, it’s going to football with your mates and screaming and shouting, getting it all out and having a good time.”

“You can’t beat the atmosphere of being at a game,” Billy reminisces.

“Getting involved in the singing, at half time having a chat to a stranger you don’t know. There’s that collective togetherness about football. It’s community.”

“It’s a habit man,” says Mike. “I don’t think about it, it just happens. It’s like eating. I can’t imagine not doing football.”

“It annoys the shit out of me and I hate what it’s become in many ways. But I can’t help not being totally absorbed by it.”

ROWAN JENNINGS

Luke Richards speaks to BAFTA winner and Tang Soo Do World Champion, Rowan Jennings to discuss a successful career in sound, Martial arts, and the importance of balance.

“Thanks for thinking I’m interesting,” Rowan Jennings begins.

It’s a surprising comment for a 45-year-old from Leyton who has had a sound career recognised by multiple award bodies for his work in documentaries.

We meet in his flat where his BAFTA trophy sits proudly on a shelf, not far from his sound studio in his garden that he modestly refers to as his “shed.”

He had recently returned from New York where he attended the EMMY awards after being nominated for his work on ‘9/11: I was there.’

“Amazing, as you could imagine,” he says of the experience. “On the day, leading up to it I felt quite apprehensive and nervous. It’s a big thing. To win awards is kind of great but it’s also quite important for your career.”

“Although we are a country with a big tv industry, everything in America is bigger and glitzier, more competitive.”

The glamour of New York is a world away from Rowan’s modest upbringing. His younger years were spent dividing his time with his divorced parents and grandparents.

He would later move in with his brother, Alex. It was here when his interest in sound started. “I had a general interest in sound, but I didn’t know my job existed.”

“College and school, generally for me, was challenging. As soon as I started A-levels, that jump up for me was too hard.”

“I found it hard to concentrate and focus, as well as being distracted by being a teenager and playing music in a band…It just felt like going and getting a job was better for me.”

After becoming a runner in his brother’s company, a chance meeting ignited his imagination.

“I was just making teas and running boxes of animations around to companies. But they happened to be running sound post-production at a company nearby.”

“I just happened to walk in on a foley session. I thought this is freaking cool! I’ve got an interest in that.”

After being given the opportunity to change companies, Rowan slowly developed his craft through various roles before becoming a sound assistant where he gained his first credits.

In 2014, his reputation in the industry was cemented when he won a BAFTA for his work on ‘David Bowie: Five Years.’

“That was a good night, a bit of a blur!” he says of the ceremony.

Rowan laughs, “I would love to say that Bowie knocked on my door and said I need you to mix my film.

“It’s not like we had Bowie in a voiceover booth, recording. We had to make bits of his dialogue feel like it was narration.”

With Bowie famously reluctant to do interviews, Rowan’s team had the task of mixing old archive footage with raw recordings that were supplied by Toni Visconti - Bowie’s long-term producer.

Rowan returned to Bowie in 2017 for ‘Bowie: The Last Five Years’ where he was also nominated for a BAFTA.

He also gained nominations for his work on ‘Our World War’ and ‘Britten’s Endgame’ and ‘Michael Palin in North Korea.’

His sound career has also enabled him to work with several stars in the voiceover booth. Rowan beams, “Attenborough is the one! It was the most memorable voiceover session I’ve ever had.”

If his achievements in sound weren’t impressive enough, Rowan is also a National, European and World Grand Champion in the martial art of Tang Soo Do.

“A life of accidents” he says of when he started in 2010. “My son, Theo, started first. I was just sitting on the side doing emails while he was training. I was getting hassled by the instructor the whole time saying you might as well join in.”

Martial arts helped “rebalance his life.” Although he was building a career, he concedes that the long hours meant that he didn’t see his family as much.

It also confronted an unhealthy lifestyle. “It turned my life around. It got to the point that I realised I had to stop killing myself.”

“I was just drinking alcohol and stagnating. Being overweight and obese. I think I was up at 19 or 20 stone at one point. I wasn’t told by a doctor or anything, I just had enough of it.”

Tang Soo Do quickly appealed to Rowan’s competitive nature and he began training four times a week, eventually becoming a 2nd Dan black belt instructor.

His two daughters, Ellie and Immy, and wife Kate would quickly start their own journey in Tang Soo Do, allowing the family to spend time together while training and competing.

In 2016, they travelled to North Carolina for the World Championships. Rowan won every event in his division to win the prestigious Grand Champion Cup.

“I wasn’t expecting it; I knew I was training hard. I was motivated and had a goal. I very much work on having goals. If I don’t, then that’s problematic for me mentally because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Rowan backed up his world championship with a European title in 2017- The first to do it back-to-back.

His brother Alex argues that his successes aren’t unusual. “No matter what sport Rowan chose, he was a natural born winner.”

“Winning a Bafta? No surprise. Martial arts world champion? Easy. Some people just have the right stuff.”

“I must have paid him well for that quote” Rowan responds. “You have got to be analytical and harness focus. I pretend I’m not, but I’m competitive about most things.”

He would later emphasise, “Becoming a black belt takes a lot of hard work. You don’t just turn up, go to class, and get a belt.”

“You have to train for it. I guess that translates to what you put in, you get out. Discipline, humility, being humble, I guess a lot of that comes from Tang Soo Do.”

He is also enthusiastic about giving back by training others. This includes plans to open a Tang Soo Do club with Ellie, who is also a 2nd Dan black belt.

We finish by discussing whether anyone can succeed by just being naturally talented. “As long as you keep some sort of balance between motivation, hard work and creativity then I think you find that’s the best way.”

“I know there’s a lot of martial arts thinking in there. You can’t just hang in one zone, can you? You have to evolve and exist in both.”