Euro 2016

The stats alone behind Dimitri Payet’s performance against Romania are absurd: a game-winning goal, an assist, multiple highlight reel skills, and eight key passes. The context behind them elevate his performance too nothing short of legendary.

After making only 18 appearances for France prior to today, after being passed over time and time again again by the biggest clubs in the world, 29-year-old Dimitri Payet scored the game winning goal to give France a 2-1 victory over Romania in the opening match of Euro 2016, a tournament that France is hosting.

Tomorrow, Albania vs Switzerland finish up the first game of Group A in Euro 2016, and while football will certainly take center stage, there is another intriguing plotline to keep an eye on as the game kicks off. Granit Xhaka, Arsenal's new midfielder, will take the field for Switzerland against his brother Taulant, who plays for Albania. 

You may be wondering how two brothers became seperated in such a fashion, especially as both of them have acknowledged that they share a very close relationship.

37-year-old Eidur Gudjohnsen will be making his international swan song for Iceland at Euro 2016. The attacking player from Reykjavik is certainly the most famous footballer to have come from Iceland. He scored 54 goals over six illustrious seasons with Chelsea. He spent three seasons with Barcelona, capturing a La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble in 2008-09.

Yes, it was only a pre-Euro 2016 friendly. Yes, it was against Estonia, a side that didn’t qualify for the Euros and is currently ranked 94 in the world, but, oh my gosh, did Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma put on a show in Portugal’s final warm-up game before the start of the tournament in France.

It's time for another international tournament in the form of the European Championships, and while Euro 2016 songs are sparse, they're not nonexistent. 

This is Hafthor Bjornsson. Hafthor is a very big Icelandic man (More like Doublethor, am I right? Sorry, I couldn't resist). He spends most of his time doing this:

He's pretty much one of the strongest men in the world. Photo: @SIMundial | Twitter

Security at Euro 2016 is of the utmost importance to France and the tournament’s organizers, but the reality of today’s age means that the risk of a terrorist threat at the competition remains very real. Portugal, because of the global stature of Cristiano Ronaldo, have been identified as one of the more high-risk teams, and their coach Fernando Santos acknowledged the threat after his side’s friendly defeat to England on Thursday.  

At Euro 2012, the Republic of Ireland, under the direction of former manager Giovanni Trapattoni, seemed pleased to simply be there. Their performances on the pitch validated the belief that they were only making up the numbers required to field the tournament.