2020 has been a year of real difficulty and as we come to the end, we can only hope that things improve, and we see normality return for 2021. Sport has been badly impacted, with many events cancelled and postponed. One of these was of course the European championships, which were set to take place in the summer across Europe, earlier this year. Due to the pandemic, this has now been moved to 2021, so expectations are now building ahead of the event. With this being the case, here we analyse the key contenders heading into the tournament.
Source: https://www.theirishworld.com/european-championships-postponed-until-2021/
At present it is Belgium who are the general favourites for the tournament next year. They have continued to come in for support on a number of the biggest bookies offering odds, which is little surprise based on their performances in recent years. They clearly have one of the leading squads in world football, with many of the top stars in the side. Belgium were also the most impressive in qualification to the tournament and will now be in Group B, which will see them taking on Denmark, Finland and Russia. They will also be looking to win the tournament for the first time, with their best finish coming when runners-up back in 1980.
England are also joint favourites in some places and looking to win the competition for the first time. The side has been improving well in recent years, that included a fourth-place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. England were also one of the most impressive sides in qualification, which has seen their odds continue to shorten ahead of the European championships. The side also has a number of the leading players in world football, so also must have a real chance of winning the competition for the first time in 2021. England have been drawn in Group D, which will see them taking on the likes of Croatia and the Czech Republic.
As expected, France are also amongst the favourites in the betting market and are coming off the back of a victory at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. That was a very impressive victory, so it is no surprise they are expected to take all the beating next year. France were also impressive in qualification but have been drawn against Germany and Portugal in Group F, which has seen their odds lengthen slightly. This is by far the most competitive of the groups but if they can get through this impressively, then they will most likely push up to clear favourites for the title.
