France was chosen as the organizer of the 15th edition of the European Cup after beating Turkey and Italy. A total of 10 stadiums in 10 cities in France will host Euro 2016. This is the third time France has been selected to host the Euros after the inaugural edition in 1960 and also in 1984 when they became champions at home.

A big theme of Euro 2016 is the change in the tournament format. For the first time in history, the Euro finals were attended by 24 participants, a significant increase from the previous 16 countries. The increase in the number of participants resulted in the swelling of the group phase to six groups.

Euro 2016 also gives the best third-placed team in the group stage the opportunity to advance to the knockout stages. Interestingly, that is what happened to the Portuguese champions where they qualified as third place before continuing to advance to become European champions for the first time.
France as the host automatically qualified for the finals of Euro 2016. A total of 23 other places were contested by 53 countries in a series of qualifying matches divided into nine groups. In detail, eight groups containing six teams and one group containing five teams.

Given that there was a change in the format at Euro 2016, the two teams that finish top of this qualifier will automatically qualify for France. One automatic slot was also won by the best third-placed team, while the remaining four tickets were obtained via the play-off route.

One debutant team competed in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, namely Gibraltar, following its affiliation with UEFA in 2013. However, the main story occurred in the Group A qualifiers where one of the regular European Cup teams, the Netherlands, was only able to finish in fourth place.

Oranje lost to the Czech Republic, Iceland, and Turkey. This is the first time the Netherlands has not played in the Euro finals since 1984. In fact, 16 months earlier, the Netherlands was able to rank third in the 2014 World Cup.
Favorite teams such as Germany, England, Italy, Portugal, and defending champion Spain were able to qualify as group winners. A total of five teams qualified for the Euro finals for the first time, namely Wales, Albania, Northern Ireland, Iceland and Slovakia.

Four of the five teams that debuted at Euro 2016 were able to shine in France. Only Albania did not qualify from the group stage, while Northern Ireland, Iceland, Wales and Slovakia successfully advanced to the knockout stages. In fact, Iceland and Wales were able to create miracles in this tournament.

After finishing solidly as runners-up in Group F, Iceland faced the English giants in the round of 16. Unseeded, Iceland even managed to make one of the biggest surprises in the Euros by being able to overthrow England 2-1 despite conceding first. Iceland's new steps stopped at the hands of hosts France in the quarter-finals. Despite being eliminated with a crushing 5-2 defeat, the viking clap of the Icelandic fans will always be remembered as a marker of the magical story of their favorite team at Euro 2016.

However, the most shining debutant status at Euro 2016 fell to Wales. Gareth Bale et al. not only qualify as group winners, but also continue to advance to the semi-finals, which is the best achievement in their history on the international stage. The team made by Chris Coleman even managed to get rid of Belgium in the quarter-finals before being defeated by Portugal in the semi-finals.

Defending champions Spain only made it to the round of 16 after being defeated by Italy as well as revans in the final of Euro 2012. However, Italy was then eliminated by Germany in the quarter-finals on a dramatic penalty shootout, which is remembered for the missed penalty moment by Simone Zaza. Germany advanced, but Antoine Griezmann's semi-final form dashed Die Mannschaft's hopes of marrying the 2014 World Cup title to Euro 2016 following a 2-0 loss to France.

In the end, it was Portugal who smiled the most by beating hosts France in the final. In fact, Fernando Santos' troops did not appear convincing throughout the tournament. In fact, of the seven matches played, Portugal only won once in 90 minutes, namely when they beat Wales 2-0 in the semi-finals. The rest, Cristiano Ronaldo et al. can only reap a draw or win through extra time or penalty shootouts.

In the group phase, they have never won with only three draws so they have to qualify through the best third-placed path. Yes, Portugal finished behind Hungary and Iceland. In the round of 16, Ricardo Quaresma's header in the 116th minute was decisive. Then they eliminated Poland on penalties in the quarter-finals. After beating Wales in the semi-finals, Portugal then overthrew France through Eder's single goal in extra time.