Every team will be desperate to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2012 Championships. There are nine groups in total. The nine group winners will qualify for the tournament along with the best runner-up. The other 8 runners-up are drawn into two-legged playoffs.Â
One of the main groups of interest in Group G which contains England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro. England will be the favourites to win the group. But having said that, they did miss qualification for the last tournament.Â
The main competition will come from Switzerland and Bulgaria. Switzerland have qualified for three of the last four European Championships but not once have they made it past the opening round. They were co-hosts of the last tournament along with Austria. They are a solid team without being anything special. Â
Bulgaria have only qualified for the tournament twice, the last of which was in 2004. They have never made it to the knock out rounds. They used to be a regular at the World Cup attending every one from 1962 to 1974 and then in 1986 and 1994 where it finished fourth. It hasn’t been back since 1998.Â
Its big name players are Stiliyan Petrov who plays for Aston Villa and Dimitar Berbatov who plays for Manchester United. Â
Wales only previous experience with this tournament was in 1976 and that was when it using a completely different format. Wales were one of the eight group winners who were drawn into a two legged play-off, the winners of which qualified for the finals in Yugoslavia. They were the team that beat Wales in the playoffs. This was the last time Wales appeared in the finals of a major tournament.Â
Montenegro is only three years old. It used to be part of Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro. They will struggle to do well in the Euro 2012 Group G.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 england, euro 2012 group g, euro 2012 qualifying group g