Group F
| Team | UEFA Ranking | Last Tournament | Best Ever Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 7 | R16 | Winner |
| Turkey | 9 | Group | Semi-Final |
| Czech Republic | 10 | Quarter-Final | Semi-Final |
| Georgia | 46 | DNQ | First EURO's |
Portugal
With ten members of the squad playing in England, four in France, a couple each in Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the rest at home it's fair to say Portugal's squad had experience in different types of football. It's not the only experience they have. At 39, captain Cristiano Ronaldo will be one of the oldest players in the tournament.
Having won the 2016 EURO's Portugal only got as far as the Round of 16 last time and will be looking to go further. A flawless ten wins from ten saw Portugal win their qualifying group comfortably, and go undefeated in 2023. In friendly matches this year they have beat two non-qualifiers, but lost to two teams who are at the tournament.
Turkey
This is the third consecutive EURO's for Turkey. They qualified top of their group losing only once, to second place Croatia.
The squad is a good balance of age and experience with about half playing at home with the rest, apart from a single player in Saudi, scattered through European leagues.
Recent performance in friendlies has been poor and include a 6-1 drubbing by Austria. The high spot is a 0-0 draw with current holders Italy.
Czech Republic
The Czech's qualified second in their group by cirtue of goal difference and a single loss to the team who came first, Albania. They have consistently qualified for EURO tournaments sonce becoming an independent nation and this is their eighth in a row.
Fifteen of the squad play at home, five play in Germany, the others are in various European leagues.
A single loss, against group winners Albania, since the start of 2023 means they go into the competition with confidence, and will hope to progress.
Georgia
As an independant nation getting to the EURO's is Georgia's best result in the not just the EURO's, but also the World Cup. At 46th they are one place above Albania in EUFA standings, so not quite the lowest team in the competition. They will hope to shock the more established teams they share the group with.
A squad which plays around Europe, with US and Saudi also represented, gives a wide range of experience, but for Georgia to progress the whole will need to outperform the sum of the parts.
They qualified the long way, by coming through a Nations League play off and beating Luxembourg and then 2004 Champions, Greece.
That concludes a whistle stop look at each group. Tomorrow, it's all about the competitions and games we can play. There'll be an exploration of official EURO Fantasy Football game; Match Predictor; and Bracket Prediction.
We'll also consider @blanchy's Match Prediction game.
These things are always more fun with more people playing, so click a link below, and come join the fun.
For fellow football following HIVIANS (looking at anyone in @hivefpl, @footballonhive, @sportstalksocial, etc) I've got a couple of leagues to join for the EURO's:
Fantasy Football: Build a squad, score points, top the league! Join Here
Match Predictor: Guess the match score, beat everyone else! Join Here
Please come and play, and tell the HIVIANS who you think may be interested.
text by stuartcturnbull art by UEFA & altered by stuartcturnbull
