Istanbul (AFP) – Arda Turan, who rose from a tough upbringing in a working class Istanbul district to join Barcelona in the highest-profile move ever by a Turkish footballer, has to prove his international class at Euro 2016. No other Turkish player comes close to the profile of Turan, who moved to Atletico Madrid in […]

Madrid (AFP) – Six years from delivering the most important strike of a football in Spanish history, Andres Iniesta remains the cornerstone of a La Roja side hoping to rekindle former glories at Euro 2016. Iniesta's extra-time goal in the 2010 World Cup final against the Netherlands will be his lasting legacy. But Iniesta's technique, […]

Zagreb (AFP) – Luka Modric started playing football during Croatia's independence war and the country's notoriously fervent fans expect the world-class playmaker to launch their offensive at Euro 2016. Croatia are looking to the 30-year-old to lift them as he has Real Madrid amid a rollercoaster season in La Liga and the Champions League. With […]

Kiev (AFP) – Ukraine's great hope Yevhen Konoplyanka chose La Liga, dismissing England's more physical Premier League, and has since become a bench-warmer at Sevilla. However, his country's fans still hope that he can fire them to success at Euro 2016. The 26-year-old winger attracted interest from big clubs across the continent with dashing displays […]

Prague (AFP) – Petr Cech is heading to his fourth European Championship having won a record number of caps for the Czech Republic, but the finals in France may well be his last. "After the Euros I'll sit down at home and decide whether I'll go on," the 34-year-old Arsenal keeper told reporters in March. […]

Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey coach Fatih Terim is known as the "emperor" after three stints ruling over the national side, taking them to some of their biggest successes. The European Championship in France will be Turkey's first major tournament in eight years, but they have a track record of putting on an impressive showing on […]

Warsaw (AFP) – Poland head to Euro 2016 with one of the world's best strikers, Robert Lewandowski, on top form as he prepares to lead the White and Reds' charge. The 27-year-old helped secure Poland's Euro berth with 13 goals in the qualifying campaign to equal David Healy's record, set in the qualifiers for Euro […]

Madrid (AFP) – As a pot-bellied, softly-spoken, 65-year-old, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque can rarely be described as a man on a mission. Yet he is determined to put right a disastrous World Cup two years ago when La Roja defend their European Championship title. "The origin of everything is Brazil and the disappointment of […]

Prague (AFP) – Pavel Vrba knows that his Czech Republic team are Euro 2016 underdogs, but past experience has taught him that an upset is always possible. "We can't say we're going there as one of the favourites but we don't want to go home after the group stage," said the 52-year-old coach ahead of […]

Rome (AFP) – Giampiero Ventura takes over as Italy head coach after Euro 2016 as the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) opted Tuesday for a low-key manager, radically different from Antonio Conte for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. The 68-year-old former Torino coach's anticipated appointment was confirmed by FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio after a meeting […]

Belfast (AFP) – Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty's approach to football was summed up when he was asked in a television interview who he wanted to play against at Euro 2016. "For me, if we get Argentina that would be unbelievable," he joked. Needless to say, there was of course never any danger of Lafferty […]

Kiev (AFP) – Drilled in Soviet discipline, Mykhaylo Fomenko has taken a no-frills Ukraine side to the European Championship finals, giving hope to a country at war. As a teenager, Fomenko was plucked from a machine plant team and virtually forced to become one of Dynamo Kiev's most influential players of the 1970s. As a […]

Zagreb (AFP) – Appointing a former TV and radio repairman as the national coach has done little to appease Croatia's volatile fans, but the football federation insist Ante Cacic is the man for the job at Euro 2016. "I am satisfied that Ante Cacic deserves to be our national team coach," said Croatian football federation […]

Warsaw (AFP) – Adam Nawalka leads Poland to their third straight European Championship finals with the country determined to reach the knock-out stages of a major tournament for the first time in 30 years. Bayern Munich's hot-shot striker Robert Lewandowski will spearhead the Poland attack in Group C where they will meet world champions Germany, […]

Berlin (AFP) – Joachim Loew will look to add the European Championship crown in France to Germany's 2014 World Cup triumph, even if his team have again endured a far from perfect build-up to the finals. "You always get such problems ahead of every tournament. In 2014, Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger were injured but […]