UEFA Euro 2012 Begins: The Clash of the Titans

The European championships have begun. The UEFA Euro 2012 promises to be an exciting and explosive tournament with a rich feature of star players from all across the continent participating. The once-in-four-year tournament is being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The tournament which spans over twenty-three days kicks-off June 8 in the Polish capital, Warsaw and ends July 1 in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

Groupings
Below are the qualified teams and their groupings in the tournament schedule:

Group A
Poland | Greece | Russia | Czech Republic

Group B
Netherlands | Germany | Denmark | Portugal

Group C
Spain | Italy | Ireland | Croatia

Group D
France | England | Ukraine | Sweden

Country Star Players
It has been dubbed the clash of the titans as the tournament promises to feature an array of stars from all over Europe. Some of them have been highlighted for you to be able to keep easy tabs as the competition unfolds. Three star players from each country have been featured on our highlight list:

Poland- Robert Lewandoski, Lukasz Piszczek, Wojciech Szczesny.

Greece- Giorgos Karagounis, Georgios Samaras, Kostas Katsouranis

Russia- Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Yuri Zhirkov

Czech Republic- Tomas Rosicky, Petr Cech, Milan Baros

Netherlands - Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder

Germany- Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Mesut Ozil

Denmark- Nicklas Bendtner, Daniel Agger, Christian Poulsen

Portugal- Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Meireles

Spain- Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres

Italy- Andrea Pirlo, Mario Balotelli, Gianluigi Buffon

Ireland- Shay Given, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane

Croatia- Eduardo, Verdran Corluka, Luka Modric

France - Samir Nasri, Patrice Evra, Philippe Mexes

England- Steven Gerrard, John Terry, Wayne Rooney

Sweden- Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Christian Wilhelmson, Olof Melberg

Ukraine- Andriy Voronin, Andriy Scevshenko, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk

Fixtures
Group A
Friday, June 8
Match Venue Time(GMT)
Poland v Greece Warsaw 16:00 hrs
Russia v Czech Rep. Wroclaw 18:45 hrs

Tuesday, June 12
Greece v Czech rep. Wroclaw 16:00 hrs
Poland v Russia Warsaw 18:45 hrs

Saturday, June 16
Greece v Russia Warsaw 16:00 hrs
Czech Rep. v Poland Wroclaw 18:45 hrs

Group B
Saturday, June 9
Netherlands v Denmark Kharkiv 16:00 hrs
Germany v Portugal Lviv 18:45 hrs

Wednesday, June 13
Denmark v Portugal Lviv 16:00 hrs
Netherlands v Germany Kharkiv 18:45 hrs

Sunday, June17
Denmark v Germany Lviv 16:00hrs
Portugal v Netherlands Kharkiv 18:45hrs

Group C
Sunday, June 10
Spain v Italy Gdansk 16:00hrs
Ireland v Croatia Poznan 18:45hrs

Thursday, June 14
Italy v Croatia Poznan 16:00hrs
Spain v Ireland Gdansk 18:45hrs

Monday, June18
Croatia v Spain Gdansk 16:00hrs
Italy v Ireland Poznan 18:45hrs

Group D
Monday, June 11
France v England Donetsk 16:00 hrs
Ukraine v Sweden Kiev 18:45 hrs

Friday, June 15
Sweden v England Kiev 16:00 hrs
Ukraine v France Donetsk 18:45 hrs

Tuesday, June19
Sweden v France Kiev 16:00 hrs
England v Ukraine Donetsk 18:45 hrs

Bookmakers’ Favorites
For most bookmakers- Spain, Germany, Netherlands and France are firm favourites with England and Italy, labelled as seeming Contenders. Also Russia, Sweden and Ukraine are dark horses with the potential to pull surprises. It promises to be an explosive atmosphere with a Goal Rain. The question is “Who would emerge eventual champions?” Only time would tell.