Are you ready for some football?

No, not that football.

The European Championships 2012 – Poland/Ukraine.

Starting on June 8^th sixteen football teams (soccer for North Americans) will represent their respective countries for a chance to be crowned “The European Champions.”

This year marks the 14^th year of competition and will be co-hosted by Poland and The Ukraine.

This tournament was first hosted by France in 1960, and has evolved considerably as a “World Class” competition.  Next to the World Cup, this is probably the 2^nd biggest event of the Football Calendar. As with the World Cup, the Euros (as it is referred as) are held every four years. 

Qualification began back in August 2010 with 51 countries competing for the final 16 berths which were decided in November of 2011.  The sixteen teams that qualified were placed in groups of 4.  The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals and the finals will be held in Kiev on July 1^st, 2012.

The following is a list of the groups:

Group A            Group B                   Group C                      Group D

Czech Rep.         Denmark                    Croatia                         England

Greece               Germany                     Italy                            France

Poland               Netherlands                 Rep. of Ireland             Sweden

Russia                Portugal                     Spain                           Ukraine

Group B is considered by many to be the “Group of Death” but every group poses its own interesting match-ups with every country having realistic hopes of moving on to the final rounds. 

Spain is the defending champion and also the World Champion.  Spain is considered by many to be the strong favorite, but Germany, Holland, Italy, France and England are always in the race. That being said, some of the dark horses like the Czech Republic, Portugal and Russia can never be counted out and both the host countries will receive a lot of home support from their fans.

Here in Canada, every game will be televised on TSN and TSN2, with the time difference being only 6hrs.  Most of the games will be televised at 11.30am or 2pm.  So make Jawny Bakers your destination headquarters for the Euro! 

Come support your own country of heritage or adopt a country and enjoy four weeks of brilliant football with some of the games most talented players all vying to be crowned Champions of Europe. Personally, I will be cheering for the Three Lions of England!! (With Ireland as my second country of choice.) 

Gavin Thomson

Jawny Bakers Restaurant