England Are The Picks For Euro 2020

Two major football championships have taken place in England and on both occasions the hosts progressed to at least the semi-finals. The last four and final fixtures in Euro 2020 are being played at Wembley Stadium, the home of English football. England can benefit from home advantage in the final stages and become champions of Europe for the first time. England are the picks for Euro 2020 and the team you should be betting on over the next two years.

The upcoming European Championship finals will be played in 12 cities across the continent. It’s the 60th anniversary of the competition and the thinking is to share the matches around football playing nations in Europe. There will be matches in Dublin and Glasgow but Wales and Northern Ireland miss out. Each qualified team will play at least two matches at home and there are 24 places up for grabs. Ireland and Scotland will have the incentive of playing matches at home if they qualify. England could win the trophy at their own stadium so football would come home.

Wembley is owned by the Football Association but by June 2020 the stadium could be in private hands. The chairman of Fulham FC is interested in buying Wembley and a sale should benefit grassroots football in England. However, England won the World Cup in 1966 at the old stadium and playing home matches there is invaluable. You can’t put a price on the most famous football ground in the world despite the offer of a fortune for the purchase. It’s debatable whether Wembley should be owned by English football or an overseas investor who has many other business interests.

The businessman making the bid has made reassurances that England will play their home matches at Wembley if he buys the ground. However, he has not said if the playoff finals and some finals of minor competitions will be played at Wembley. He owns an NFL franchise and the long-term plan may be to play American Football on a regular basis at Wembley. Putting ownerships matters aside England are the team to be betting on in the outright futures market for Euro 2020. England rarely lose competitive matches at Wembley.

Shad Khan is the prospective buyer of Wembley Stadium and the richest person of Pakistani origin knows a good deal. He is also the first member of an ethnic minority to own an NFL team. It would make sense to move his Jacksonville Jaguars franchise to London where rare matches sell out stadiums. Moving the NFL team would concentrate Khan’s sporting interests in London. He has a highly successful automotive manufacturing business based in Illinois and owns the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. Wembley would be run on sound business principles and the sale could fund football at amateur and junior level.

England have only won the World Cup at home and their best finishing position in the Euros was the last four at Euro 96 which was played in England. Their best efforts at overseas World Cups are losing semi-finalists at Italia 90 and the tournament in Russia this summer. That squad had a relatively low average age and given some maturity and progression England should be contenders for the next two major tournaments. Playing a semi-final and final at Wembley is a big incentive.

Ultimately France were worthy winners of the World Cup but England had a great chance to make the final. Leading 1-0 against Croatia in the last four in the second half they conceded and Croatia scored the decisive winning goal in the second period of extra-time. England did not score the crucial second goal and Croatia were the better team during the second half and in extra time. England then lost the meaningless 3rd/4th match to Belgium. Despite having an easy route to the semis England played well at the World Cup and if that form is repeated winning Euro 2020 is not beyond them.

France are the current world champions so in theory must be the best team in Europe and the team to be betting on this time. They grew into this year’s World Cup and after a quite start Paul Pogba became awesome in the later stages. Kylian Mbappe was voted young player of the tournament but Harry Kane, the captain of England, won the Golden Boot for being the leading scorer. Luca Modric of Croatia won the honor for best player and Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois was voted the best keeper.

Belgium have the players to win Euro 2020 but home advantage will be crucial and England should and lift the trophy for the first time. That would mean their only two finals wins have been at Wembley so English football should not sell the stadium. The Twin Towers have been replaced by the Arch but Wembley is still the most famous football stadium in the world. England are the picks to win Euro 2020 at Wembley.