Best and worst case scenario for England at Euro 2016
Five of the 20 teams that are guaranteed a place in France do not yet know which pot they will be in, while only four of the eight play-off teams will be at the finals.
Here, we assess the best and worse case scenarios for Roy Hodgson’s men.
BEST CASE
England
Bosnia
Hungary
Albania
WORST CASE
England
Italy
Czech Republic
Twenty of the 24 finalists for Euro 2016 are now known.
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Hide AdHere, The Yorkshire Post looks at the teams already qualified for France next summer.
France (hosts)
Coach: Didier Deschamps
Star player: Paul Pogba
Chances: With home advantage and players such as Pogba, Karim Benzema and Hugo Lloris in their ranks, the French will be among the favourites.
Tournament best: Winners, 1984 & 2000
Qualifying record: Automatically qualified as hosts
Qualifying stat: Despite not needing to qualify, France were actually allocated a notional place in the five-team qualifying Group I, playing friendlies against the team without a fixture in each round.
Albania
Coach: Giovanni de Biasi
Star player: Lorik Cana
Chances: Having come through a qualifying group including Portugal, Denmark and Serbia, Albania have proved they can play a bit but they will still be rank outsiders.
Tournament best: n/a
Qualifying record: W4 D2 L2
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Hide AdQualifying stat: Albania finished second in Group I, two points ahead of Denmark, but it might have been different had they not been awarded a 3-0 win against Serbia from an abandoned match in Belgrade.
Austria
Coach: Marcel Koller
Star player: Marc Janko
Chances: Not likely winners but, as a team on the up, they will be difficult opposition for any side.
Tournament best: Group stage, 2008
Qualifying record: W9 D1 L0
Qualifying stat: This is the first time Austria, Group G winners, have qualified for the finals on the field after being included as hosts in 2008.
Belgium
Coach: Marc Wilmots
Star player: Eden Hazard
Chances: With a star-studded squad, Belgium are capable of winning the tournament but much depends on how they gel as a team and are coached.
Tournament best: Finalists, 1980
Qualifying record: W7 D2 L1
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Hide AdQualifying stat: By topping Group B, Belgium - 66th in 2009 - were guaranteed to move to the top of FIFA’s world rankings for the first time in their history.
Croatia
Coach: Ante Cacic
Star player: Ivan Perisic
Chances: With some talented and established players, Croatia will expect to make the last 16 and hope to go further.
Tournament best: Quarter-finalists, 1996 & 2008
Qualifying record: W6 D3 L1
Qualifying stat: Croatia had an eventful qualifying campaign, having a point deducted after a swastika was burned onto their pitch and changing managers in September, but they leapfrogged Norway in the last round of fixtures to go through.
Czech Republic
Coach: Pavel Vrba
Star player: Petr Cech
Chances: The Czechs appear short of the star quality of the past and may not get beyond the last 16.
Tournament best: Finalists, 1996
Qualifying record: W7 D1 L2
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Hide AdQualifying stat: The Czechs have qualified for the finals of every Euros since the break-up of Czechoslovakia, a run starting with the 1996 tournament.
England
Coach: Roy Hodgson
Star player: Wayne Rooney
Chances: Past failures may still temper optimism, but the quarter-finals should be a minimum aim.
Tournament best: Semi-finalists, 1968 (3rd place play-off winners) & 1996
Qualifying record: W10 D0 L0
Qualifying stat: The last team to qualify for the finals with a 100 per cent record, Spain four years ago, went on to win the tournament while Germany reached the semi-finals in 2008 after also going through with perfect statistics.
Germany
Coach: Joachim Low
Star player: Thomas Muller
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Hide AdChances: Despite stuttering over the line with less-than-convincing performances in their final two qualifiers, the world champions are likely to begin the tournament as favourites.
Tournament best: Winners, 1972, 1980 & 1996
Qualifying record: W7 D1 L2
Qualifying stat: Germany had the most attempts on goal of any team during the group stage of qualifying with 232, ahead of Belgium (207) and England (195).
Iceland
Coaches: Lars Lagerback
Star player: Gylfi Sigurdsson
Chances: Iceland have suddenly emerged as a dangerous side under Lagerback and they will hope to reach the last 16.
Tournament best: n/a
Qualifying record: W6 D2 L2
Qualifying stat: Lagerback is a dab hand at qualifying for Euros, having led his native Sweden to the finals three times and now repeating the trick with an Iceland team up against established opposition such as Holland, Czech Republic and Turkey in qualifying.
Italy
Coach: Antonio Conte
Star player: Gianluigi Buffon
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Hide AdChances: The Italians may have qualified comfortably but lack the star quality of the past and can only be regarded as having an outside chance of glory.
Tournament best: Winners, 1968
Qualifying record: W7 D3 L0
Qualifying stat: Italy were short of goals in qualifying with Southampton’s Graziano Pelle their top scorer with three.
Northern Ireland
Coach: Michael O’Neill
Star player: Kyle Lafferty
Chances: The Northern Irish are a well-coached and strong unit greater than the sum of their parts, but getting beyond the group stage would be a remarkable achievement.
Tournament best: n/a
Qualifying record: W6 D3 L1
Qualifying stat: O’Neill’s men proved the surprise package of qualifying Group, topping the pool having begun as 20/1 outsiders.
Poland
Coach: Adam Nawalka
Star player: Robert Lewandowski
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Hide AdChances: With Lewandowski fit and firing anything might be possible, but the quarter-finals might be realistic.
Tournament best: Group stages, 2008 & 2012
Qualifying record: W6 D3 L1
Qualifying stat: Lewandowski’s 13 goals equalled the record set by Northern Ireland’s David Healy for the most goals scored in a European Championship qualifying campaign.
Portugal
Coach: Fernando Santos
Star player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Chances: Like Lewandowski for Poland, Ronaldo can inspire this team to great things and they could certainly go deep into the tournament.
Tournament best: Finalists, 2004
Qualifying record: W7 D0 L1
Qualifying stat: Portugal’s campaign got off to a poor start under new boss Santos as they lost to Albania, but seven straight wins put that right.
Romania
Coach: Anghel Iordanescu
Star player: Razvan Rat
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Hide AdChances: Despite being solid, Romania are not a team built to excite and they may not get out of their group.
Tournament best: Quarter-finalists, 2000
Qualifying record: W5 D5 L0
Qualifying stat: Romania had the best defensive record in qualifying, conceding just twice.
Russia
Coach: Leonid Slutsky
Star player: Artem Dzyuba
Chances: Showed their quality with a strong finish in qualifying and should at least threaten the quarter-finals.
Tournament best: Semi-finalists, 2008
Qualifying record: W6 D2 L2
Qualifying stat: Slutsky, the CSKA Moscow coach who took temporary charge of the national side during qualifying and successfully guided them to the finals, had his playing career as a goalkeeper ended when he fell out of a tree trying to rescue a cat.
Slovakia
Coach: Jan Kozak
Star player: Marek Hamsik
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Hide AdChances: First appearance at the finals and anything beyond the group stage would be highly satisfactory.
Tournament best: n/a
Qualifying record: W7 D1 L2
Qualifying stat: Slovakia’s Vladimir Weiss tied with Poland’s Arkadiusz Milik and Senad Lulic of Bosnia for the most number of assists in the qualifying group stage on six.
Spain
Coach: Vicente del Bosque
Star player: David Silva
Chances: The squad may not be quite of the strength of those that won everything from 2008-2012, but they are still capable of claiming a third successive Euro title.
Tournament best: Winners, 1964, 2008 & 2012
Qualifying record: W9 D0 L1
Qualifying stat: Spain’s loss to Slovakia in October 2014 is their only defeat in qualifying for any major tournament in the past nine years.
Switzerland
Coach: Vladimir Petkovic
Star player: Xherdan Shaqiri
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Hide AdChances: A potent but fallible side and the last eight might be the top of their ambitions.
Tournament best: Group stages, 1996, 2004 & 2008
Qualifying record: W7 D0 L3
Qualifying stat: Petkovic, who took charge at the start of the campaign and saw the Swiss through despite defeats in the first two games, speaks Italian, French, English, Spanish, German and Russian.
Turkey
Coach: Fatih Terim
Star player: Selcuk Inan
Chances: Emerged from a tough group but will be among the outsiders at the tournament.
Tournament best: Semi-finalists, 2008
Qualifying record: W5 D3 L2
Qualifying stat: Turkey not only saw off Holland to finish third in qualifying Group A, but their last-gasp win against Iceland ensured they also pipped Hungary to reach the finals automatically as the best third-placed team.
Wales
Coach: Chris Coleman
Star player: Gareth Bale
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Hide AdChances: Bale might be able to make the difference against a number of teams, but without him Wales would not be half the side and they may not get out of their group.
Tournament best: n/a
Qualifying record: W6 D3 L1
Qualifying stat: Bale had more shots off target (21) than any other player in the qualifying groups and, in terms of overall attempts (24), was second only to Lewandowski (25).
The tournament line-up will be completed next months after play-offs featuring the following teams: Bosnia, Denmark, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and Ukraine.