Every team will be desperate to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2012 Championships. In total there are nine groups. 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 is the seeded team and they would be the favorites to finish on top. That said, they failed to qualify 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 actually co-hosted the last tournament with Austria. There is nothing special about them but they are a solid team. 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. 1988 was the last time in was back.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. That was who Wales lost to 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.
