UEFA president Michel Platini wasn’t allowed into the building, courtesy of his interim corruption suspension, even though next summer’s soccer bonanza will take place in his home country.
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Relief was written all over the face of German head coach Joachim Loew after the draw of the 2016 European Championship (10 June – 10 July) took place in Paris, not only because his team was lucky enough to be presented with a comparatively “easy” group.
Hosts France are the only nation apart from Germany and Spain (both three times) to have won the UEFA European Championship more than once.
Pot 4: Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Wales, Albania, Northern Ireland. The Spanish have won nine of their 10 qualifiers.
Nervous fans have received guarantees of their safety from Euro 2016 organizers.
The Euro 2016 draw is tonight and England could be facing another unmitigated disaster if it doesn’t pan out as hoped.
Whether Platini will be in attendance at the ceremony in Paris hinges on him winning his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a 90-day ban from all footballing activities while an investigation goes on into a payment he received from Federation Internationale de Football Association in 2011.
Another potential issue could arise if Russian Federation and Turkey are drawn into the same group. The case centres on FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s approval of $2 million of FIFA money that Platini got in 2011 as backdated salary.
And then there’s the sex scandal hanging over the French team, which has had to suspend star striker Karim Benzema indefinitely for his alleged involvement in an extortion plot over a sex tape of teammate Mathieu Valbuena. But they landed in the batch with rising powers Belgium, which means there are two strong group winners from the qualifying stages in this group, along with playoff winners Ireland and Sweden, led by the indomitable Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Gareth Bale will finally get a chance to shine on a big stage for Wales.
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Pot 3 contains free-scoring Poland and magic man Robert Lewandowski. And Cristiano Ronaldo, still chasing his first major trophy with Portugal, will be trying to add to his record 26 tournament goals.
