Commando security for draws, how safe will the Euro 2016 be?

Among the teams in the draw is Wales, who are making their first appearance at the finals of a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup.

The draw for next summer’s European Championship is nearly among us.

“Because this Euro is taking place in France, he has made a special effort to help with the preparation”, said Jacques Lambert, the head of the tournament organising committee.

As hosts this time around, France were given an automatic berth at Euro 2016 and are one of the leading favorites to win the competition for the first time since 2000.

Pot 1: France, Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, Belgium.

France will like its chances of getting out of Group A. After the opening match against Romania, the host nation will play Albania ” in the tournament for the first time ” and finally Switzerland on June 19.

Germany is seeded at the draw and again will be the team to beat.

By the end of the draw we will know exactly who plays who plus when and where they games will take place – and that is when you can book holidays/weddings/plot sick days.

The former France star, who propelled his country to glory as a player when they last hosted the Europeans in 1984, was widely criticised in his role as the UEFA president for changing the format of a tournament that had been so compelling with 16 teams, in particular in 2012 when Spain triumphed in Poland and Ukraine. Bosnia would have taken the final place in pot 2, but that now falls to Ukraine, which means they can not now be drawn against neighbours Russian Federation.

The focus on the football will be welcome given the amount of attention to off-field matters recently, from the FIFA scandal that has engulfed Platini to the sex-tape blackmail affair involving France striker Karim Benzema.

The nations in pots 2 to 4 will be randomly drawn into a position in each group to create the fixture programme for the group stage of the finals.

Republic of Ireland, the only unseeded team in the playoffs to make the finals, slot into pot four. Among the other 23 nations there are plenty of surprises, including four countries who have qualified for the European Championship for the first time. “We are working very hard to ensure security”, said UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino.