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The-Linesman-small-logoBy any honest reckoning, this European Championship has been a prolonged exercise in mediocrity. The football on offer has been the football of an underconfident, uptight, even neurotic, Europe. Euro 2016 has been played under the shadow of the Islamist terrorism which devastated France last November and Belgium in March. While there have been no mass terrorist incidents in France in the course of the tournament, Istanbul’s international airport was attacked on June 28. Armbands were worn at the games after — including at Italy’s game last week to mourn nine citizens killed in an ISIL attack in far-away Bangladesh...

...“So who better to give us their opinions on how the match will go on Sunday than the Portuguese and French journalists from the euronews sports team Olà Bruno, Bonjour Vincent: Bruno who is going to win in the Stade de France?”

The winner of Thursday’s meeting between the world champions and the hosts will enter the final as favourites. The two highest rated sides at the tournament – France on 7.17 and Germany on 7.15 – will be treating this game as if it were the final itself. Joachim Löw’s side are hoping to emulate France’s achievement of holding both the World Cup and European Championship trophy at the same time. France have not been truly tested yet but neither have they breezed through a highly favourable draw. While their first-half annihilation of Iceland in the quarter-finals promised much, it was...

Proven pedigree meets the darkest of dark horses on Wednesday when Portugal take on Wales with a place in Sunday's UEFA EURO 2016 final at stake.

Briefly, Germany toyed with our minds. For a few moments, they seemed to forget it was not supposed to be in their football DNA to miss from a penalty shootout even when the heat of the battle was dangerously close to intolerable. Yet how typical that, ultimately, it was their players in the victory scrum, chasing one another in euphoria and celebrating another victory from 12 yards. No other side does it better even if, on this occasion, they gave themselves an almighty scare. They certainly tempted us to think they might have suffered a temporary loss of identity when...

Italy are the team who have impressed me most at Euro 2016. They don’t really have any star names but they’ve already seen off two sides packed with them — Belgium and Spain — and face another on Saturday. The key to their success is their formation — and how well it is executed. Playing three at the back has often been dismissed as old hat in recent years, but we are beginning to see more teams flirt with the idea. And when you see a team like this employ it to perfection, who can blame them?

Europe's top youngsters are vying for the Young Player of the Tournament at UEFA EURO 2016 – and several have made eye-catching contributions in France. Presented by SOCAR, the new award is open to all players born on or after 1 January 1994 and will be chosen by the UEFA technical observers. Led by UEFA chief technical officer Ioan Lupescu and including Sir Alex Ferguson and Alain Giresse, the observers are attending all 51 EURO matches.

Just happened.

With the round of 16 over, eight teams are going home. Here's a look back at each of their Euro 2016 campaigns. Click on each country's name for an in depth view on what happened in France.

<p>England slumped to its most embarrassing loss in a generation after taking the lead in the fourth minute through Wayne Rooney's penalty.</p> <p>Ragnar Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson took advantage of defensive shortcomings by England to put Iceland ahead by the 18th minute, and the Icelanders defended superbly in the second half to earn the biggest victory in their history.</p>

Roy Hodgson has left his post as England manager following the national team’s shock 2-1 defeat to Iceland in their Euro 2016 last-16 tie on Monday evening. Hodgson’s decision to quit comes as no surprise following England’s loss to a country competing at their first major tournament and with a population of just 329,000 – comparable to Coventry. England humiliated as Iceland knock them out of Euro 2016 Read more The coaches Ray Lewington and Gary Neville have also left the Football Association. “I’m extremely disappointed of course about tonight’s result and ultimately our exit from the competition,” Hodgson said....

...Messi made his debut for Argentina in 2005, going on to make 113 appearances.

Euro 2016 has given these players and managers the perfect platform to impress watching scouts and attract admirers

Have Northern Ireland met their match in Wales? Will Italy thwart Spain? Will Portugal pick up their first win? And will England slip up against Iceland?

The Euro 2016 group stages are at an end and England, Wales and Northern Ireland are all safely through to the last 16. But what have been the trends of the tournament so far? Our man in France, Adam Bate, takes a look at the late goals, striking issues and more…

It was never going to be easy. With 24 teams in the group stages at Euro 2016, that does not divide neatly into 16 qualifying for the knockout stages. The best four third-placed teams from the six groups progress to the last 16. So far, 12 teams have made it through: France, Switzerland, Wales, England, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Hungary and Northern Ireland. BBC Sport helps explain which sides can still go through, why yellow cards could prove crucial and who is in pole position in the 'third-place table'.

The new “Fracas” design has been launched to reflect the excitement of the "winner-takes-all" mentality of the tournament’s latter stages, says the company

England and Wales head into Monday's final Group B games at Euro 2016 still needing points to guarantee a place in the knockout stages. England, who top the table after drawing with Russia and beating Wales, face Slovakia in Saint-Etienne. Wales, who lie second after a win over Slovakia followed by a loss to England, take on Russia in Toulouse. The top two teams qualify, but the third-placed side could also make it through to the next round in France.

This is the moment hundreds of lovestruck Irish football fans gathered around a blonde French girl and serenaded her. A hilarious video showed the swaying crowds singing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You and Hey Baby to the laughing young woman in Bordeaux. They appeared in high spirits despite losing three-nil to Belgium on Saturday - and one admirer even stole a kiss from the woman at the end.

If you’re a casual football fan, there’s a chance you won’t be familiar with the 1983-84 season in Romania’s Divizia C, Serie VIII. It was so tight that in a 16-team league, with two points for a win, only two points separated second and 15th. Some teams avoided relegation on goal difference – and finished in the top half of the division. On the final day, the as-it-stands table probably exploded after 10 minutes. At least there was only one as-it-stands table. We’ll need at least two to make some kind of sense of this week’s matches at Euro 2016:...