© EuroFootball.com
On Sunday, all football fans in Europe will have their eyes on the events in the city of Nice, France. At 1 p.m. Lithuanian time, the draws for "UEFA Euro 2016" will take place. The upcoming qualification, as well as the championship itself in France, will be special because a total of 24 national teams will qualify for the final tournament. Only the hosts can be calm about their place.
53 European national teams will compete for a spot in the coveted final tournament. The debutant in the qualifying matches will be the newest UEFA member - Gibraltar. The first two places in the groups and the best third-placed team will secure automatic qualification to France.
The other eight teams that finish third in their groups will participate in the play-off stage, where the remaining four tickets to France will be distributed.
The draw system is very simple - traditionally, teams were divided into six baskets. Lithuania is in the fifth basket, while neighbors Estonia and Latvia are in the fourth, so theoretically, our opponents could be one of our neighbors.
Along with Lithuania, the fifth basket also includes: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Moldova, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Cyprus. It is already clear that competing with these opponents for a place in the sun will certainly not be easy.
The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers will consist of eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. Due to political reasons, Azerbaijan will definitely not face Armenia and Spain will not face Gibraltar in the qualification tournament. Also, due to television rights, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands will be placed in groups with six teams.
In Group Nine, where five teams will compete in a sports principle, the hosts France will also play. However, all matches against the French will be friendly and points will not be shared.
The "UEFA Euro 2016" qualifiers will follow the principle of "Football Week". During the "Football Week", there will be between eight and ten matches every evening. All matches will start at two times - 7:00 pm and 9:45 pm Lithuanian time. Matches will be played from Thursday to Tuesday. Weekday matches will start at 9:45 pm.
The first qualifying matches will be played on September 7-9 this year. The final round is scheduled for October 11-13, 2015. The knockout games will take place in mid-November 2015.
You can watch the live draw today at 1 p.m. Lithuanian time on the uefa.com website.
Draw baskets for the 2016 UEFA European Championship qualifiers:
1st basket: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2nd basket: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland.
3rd basket: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland.
4th basket: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus.
5th basket: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus.
6th basket: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar.
