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EURO 2016

EURO2016

Tickets go on sale for Euro 2016 in France

The 2016 European football championships in France may still be a year away but anyone who is thinking of going to a match should act now with around one million tickets going on sale on Wednesday.

Published: 10 June 2015 09:00 CEST
Tickets go on sale for Euro 2016 in France
French fans hope they will be celebrating on the Champs Elysée on July 10, 2016. Photo: AFP

In exactly one year to the day (June 10th 2016) France will kick off the European football championships on home turf.

Les Bleus will hope to repeat the triumph that saw them win the World Cup in their home country in 1998, which sparked a golden few years for the French national team.

But they will have plenty of rivals vying to stop them in a tournament that could be the last European championships to be staged in one host country.

The 2020 championships will be shared around Europe, with various cities hosting matches.

Fans from around Europe will flock to France in their tens of thousands with games being staged in stadiums across the country from Paris to Marseille and Bordeaux to Lille.

According to forecasts, the tournament's expected total cost of €1.65 billion ($1.86 billion, 1.2 billion pounds) will outweight revenues of €1.13 billion euros but Platini insisted that the construction of new stadiums and renovation of existing venues is “a plus for French football.”

New grounds have been built in Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux and Nice while significant renovation work has been carried out in Lens, Saint-Etienne, Marseille and Toulouse.

And on Wednesday they have their first chance to get their hands on some tickets, the cheapest of which will go on sale for a reasonable €25. They will be on sale for one month until July 10th, which is the date of the final in 2016.

Around 250,000 tickets will be offered at the €25 price, which will be available in 43 of the 51 matches.

For the quarter-finals, the cheapest price will be €45, then €65 for the semi finals and €85 for the final.

In order to ensure the success of this great festival of European football, we wanted a ticketing policy that was in line with our lofty ambitions for the tournament,” said Euro 2016 SAS president Jacques Lambert.

“We wanted a ticketing procedure that was user-friendly and transparent, in which everyone – no matter where they were in the world – had the same chances of obtaining tickets via a single portal.”

Uefa will also donate 20,000 tickets to deprived children all over France as part of the 20,000 Smiles for the EURO programme.

To apply for tickets you will first need to register an account, which you can do by clicking here.

Tickets will go on sale on the Uefa website and be handed out once the application period is closed on July 10th.

If matches are oversubscribed they will be handed out in a ballot rather than on a first come first served basis.

So all you can do is cross your fingers and hope. 

But there will be another chance to purchase tickets in March/April 2016 when Uefa opens their resale site for fans who want to sell the tickets they have purchased.

No tickets will be sold at the stadiums themselves on the day of the matches.

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GERMANY

Italy suffer penalty heartbreak in Euro 2016 quarter-final

Jonas Hector fired Germany into the semi-finals of Euro 2016 at Italy's expense after an epic round of 18 penalty kicks that saw players from both sides produce stunning misses in Bordeaux on Saturday.

Published: 2 July 2016 23:53 CEST
Italy suffer penalty heartbreak in Euro 2016 quarter-final
Italy striker Graziano Pellè hides his face after missing a penalty. Photo: Vincenzo PitoAFP

World Cup holders Germany won the shoot-out 6-5 after a tense match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time, and their reward is a semi-final with the winner of Sunday's last quarter-final between hosts France and Iceland.
   
Joachim Loew's side had appeared to be heading for the win in regulation time after Mesut Ozil pounced to give them a 65th-minute lead.
   
But Italy clawed themselves back into the game when Leonardo Bonucci levelled from the penalty spot 12 minutes from the end of normal time after a Jerome Boateng handball.
 
After no goals were scored in extra time, Ozil, Thomas Mueller and Bastian Schweinsteiger all failed from the spot for Germany, usually so reliable from 12 yards.
   
But after Simone Zaza and Graziano Pelle missed for Italy and Bonucci was denied by Manuel Neuer, Matteo Darmian's failure to convert the Azzurri's ninth kick allowed Hector to become Germany's hero.
   
The game had been billed as the pick of the quarter-finals, but large spells of the game in Bordeaux were uneventful.
   
Germany talisman Schweinsteiger again started the game on the bench but was introduced after quarter of an hour to replace Sami Khedira, who came off with a groin injury.
   
Schweinsteiger found the net just before the half-hour mark but his effort was disallowed for a foul on Mattia De Sciglio.
   
With a semi-final against either hosts France or Iceland up for grabs, a cautious approach from both sides was to be expected.
   
Indeed, Germany coach Joachim Loew sprung a surprise by moving away from his usual 4-2-3-1 formation in favour of a 3-5-2 to replicate the Italian set-up, dropping the previously excellent Julian Draxler as a result.
   
The World Cup holders went on to dominate possession throughout but Gianluigi Buffon was untroubled by a Mario Gomez toe-poke while the veteran goalkeeper also easily saved from a Mueller shot late in the first half.
   
Italy responded in kind, Emanuele Giaccherini seeing his cutback go all the way to Stefano Sturaro, whose his low drive had power but was deflected out for a corner.
   
Germany moved up a gear immediately after the restart, Gomez smartly laying the ball off for Mueller to hit a left-foot drive that was turned behind by the backtracking Alessandro Florenzi at the far post.
   
The Germans were beginning to control proceedings and the opener arrived soon after. Gomez pounced on some slack defending by Florenzi before finding Hector in space to the left of the penalty box.
   
The full-back's attempted cutback came off Bonucci but fell to Ozil, who fired past Buffon from close range to give Germany a 65th-minute lead.
 
Germany's confidence was now soaring and Ozil found Gomez in space with a great chip, but the striker's outrageous flick was superbly saved by Buffon and the offside flag came up anyway.
   
Italy looked down, but they were not out.
   
An unmarked Pelle got his left foot to Florenzi's low cross but fired off target, and minutes later the Azzurri pulled level after the ball came off the arm of Boateng in the area.
   
Hungarian referee Victor Kassai immediately pointed to the spot and Bonucci stepped up to beat Neuer low to the goalkeeper's left to spark wild celebrations.
   
It was the goal Neuer had conceded at the tournament after four successive clean sheets.
   
There was a minor scare for the Germans with three minutes left when Eder found De Sciglio on the left and the AC Milan midfielder saw his powerful drive ripple the side-netting.
   
Into extra time they went and Germany came closest in the additional half hour, substitute Draxler pouncing on a poor headed clearance from Andrea Barzagli to send an overhead kick just over, before both sides settled for penalties.

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