Tomorrow, the first matches will be played for this years European Championship (soccer, or football). At PoliGazette, we will bring you the results, summaries and important soccer (football) news every single day. The countries that qualified for the championships are:

Group A:

1. Switzerland (co-host of the championships, as such automatically qualified)

2. Czech Republic

3. Portugal

4. Turkey

Group B:

5. Austria

6. Croatia

7. Germany

8. Poland

Group C:

9. France

10. Italy

11. Netherlands

12. Romania

Group D:

13. Greece

14. Russia

15. Spain

16. Sweden

For those who are wondering: no, England did not qualify. Same goes for Ireland and Scotland. And Wales, of course.

Norway was not successful either. Same goes for Denmark.

The main favorites this year are:

1. Germany

2. Italy

3. France

France has a fantastic team, but one always gets the impression that, with them, something will go wrong. Why? No one knows. It simply almost always happens.

Italy is the world champion and, as such, automatically one of the top favorites. It has a terribly good team.

Germany has a very strong team as well, stronger now than it was two years ago during the World Championships. Aside from that, they basically play at home; sure Switzerland and Austria are officially different countries than Germany, but the three peoples (Germans, Swiss and Austrians) all have a strong bond with each other (especially Austrians and Germans). They speak the same language (mostly) and they basically have the same culture (and food).

Important outsiders:

1. The Netherlands is an outsider; it’s a good team, with lots of talent, but it’s not as good a team as it once was. But still, they’ve got a shot.

2. Portugal is another outsider, personally I would even consider it to be one of the favorites. It has lots of quality, and the team functions well.

3. Spain always has one of the best teams in Europe, even in the world. Yet, they never win. The reason is that club football is so important in Spain, that it’s difficult for Spaniards to play for their own country… and to forget about other, club, rivalries.