Equally, there are plenty of dark horses who will be quietly fancying themselves to make a big splash this summer. In two out of the last five European championship tournaments, we have seen unlikely winners in Denmark and Greece, and so it would take a brave man to bet against 2012 throwing up another surprise contender for the title. Of the two home nations, Ukraine look to be as efficient as ever and could well cause one or two of the more established sides a few problems, while unpredictable Poland, who recently beat Argentina, could also progress, though for both sides their chances will likely depend on whether or not they get a favorable draw in the group stage.

The Favorites

Vicente del Bosque’s much vaunted Spain will once again be the team to beat and deservedly go into the tournament as favorites to win it outright. With the spine of the team built around Barcelona stars such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carlos Puyol and David Villa, the quality of the Spanish is there for all to see. Spain oozes quality in all areas of the pitch, and their stylish passing game and enormous confidence is sure to prove a real handful for anyone they come up against.

The wealth of attacking options Spain have is simply staggering, with two of the world’s best strikers in Villa and Fernando Torres leading the line, ably supported by the likes of flying winger David Silva and midfield maestros Cesc Fabregas and Iniesta. Spain’s defense is watertight as well, with Xabi Alonso, formerly of Liverpool, anchoring the midfield in front of a very solid back four led by Barcelona’s Puyol.

Perhaps more worrying still is Spain’s strength in depth, with talents like Sergio Busquets, Jesus Navas and Fernando Llorente all waiting on the bench for their opportunity.

In With A Shout

So who realistically has a chance of beating Spain? Many pundits are looking to the German team, so impressive during the last World Cup until comprehensively silenced by the Spanish, to rise to the challenge. Following their World cup defeat and also their defeat in the final of the previous European Championships, a more experienced but still youthfull and enthusiastic Germany will be determined to make up for it.

With exciting young talents such as Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller supporting the goalscoring machine Miroslav Klose up front, opposition defenses will have their work cut out against the Germans.
Of the other challengers, the free-scoring Dutch, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben leading the line will surely be a threat. They also have a lethal weapon in midfield starlet Wesley Sneijder, who may or may not be an Inter Milan player by the time the finals come around. Add to these talents a strong defence marshaled by John Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen, plus the midfield steel of Mark van Bommel, and you have a team with the strength to go one further than they did at the last World Cup.

Italy are probably worth a punt next summer for your outright winner betting. The team which quickly faded following their World Cup title in 2006 has been rebuilt by new coach Cesare Prandelli, who has drafted in several young players into the first team squad alongside established stars such as Andrea Pirlo and Alberto Gilardino.

Following a defeat in his first match, Prandelli’s team then went on a record-equaling nine game unbeaten run before losing in a friendly to the Republic of Ireland. A recent 2-1 friendly victory over a full strength Spanish team in August will have done nothing to harm their confidence.

Never the most glamorous team going forward, the Italians will be heavily reliant on the midfield steel of Daniele de Rossi and Angelo Palombo, who have developed a good understanding in the centre of the park, while the incredibly gifted playmaker Pirlo will provide Italy’s creative spark.

Long Shots

Outside the four favorites, Fabio Capello’s England will once again be expected to challenge, but while they should be a good bet to get to the knockout stages again, a run to the final looks to be beyond a team that has put in some very workmanlike performances during qualifying. Capello has made England tough to beat, but they are rarely if ever spectacular. England will be pinning their hopes on Wayne Rooney to produce his club form at international level and fire them on their way, but sadly this something he has consistently failed to do on the big stage.

France are almost assured of a spot in the finals, but are undergoing something of a transitional period at the moment. Still reeling from a woeful World Cup in South Africa, where they crashed out in the first round with one draw and two defeats in three games, new coach Laurent Blanc tossed aside dozens of the old guard onto the scrap heap, building his team around younger stars such as Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri. However, while results have looked okay in recent games, the new-look French team have yet to be tested against any of Europe’s big guns and a run to the final is probably asking a bit too much of them just yet.

The last team with realistic title aspirations is Portugal. Any team that possesses the unique talents of Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be dismissed, but the Seleccao are also a team in stuttering form of late.

Portugal initially struggled in their early Euro 2012 qualifiers, hampered by then coach Carlos Queiroz being suspended for their first two games, a sensational 4-4 draw at home to Cyprus of all teams, followed by a 2-0 defeat to Norway. Faced with the very real threat of failing to qualify, the Portuguese sacked Queiroz and replaced him with ex-Sporting coach Paulo Bento who has quickly managed to turn the team around and lead them to the top of their qualifying group. Yet while their route to the finals now looks all but assured, it remains to be seen if Portugal can reach the heights of the mid 2000s when they reached the World Cup semi-finals.

The Hosts

For both Poland and the Ukraine, 2012 represents the first time either of these nations have staged a major football tournament, and both will be desperate to please their fans and reach the knock out stages. Could they be a bet for outright winner of Euro 2012? Home advantage is a considerable one, and so we can expect both teams to put up a good fight although whether or not either of them could go so far as to actually win the tournament is another matter.

Ukraine have consistently been a tough team to beat since gaining independence back in the early 1990s, although so far their only major tournament appearance to date is the 2006 World Cup finals, when they did incredibly well to reach the quarter-finals. Since then they have been somewhat unlucky to miss out on recent tournaments, losing in a play-off to Greece in the most recent 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Recent friendly matches have also seen some disappointing results, including defeats to Italy, France and Sweden, yet despite this, they retain many core squad members from six years ago, including the still-deadly Andriy Shevchenko, Andriy Voronin and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, while they also possess some decent youngsters such as Andriy Yarmolenko.

As for Poland, they too have experience some indifferent results of late, losing 2-0 to Lithuania earlier this year but then responding with a tenacious display to beat Argentina 2-1 in a friendly in Warsaw last June. Coach Franciszek Smuda does however possess tremendous experience, having coached more than 15 different clubs in Poland and Turkey across a managerial career spanning 30 years. He has moulded Poland into a solid, well organized team that plays to their strengths, yet other than team captain Jakub Błaszczykowski they lack any real world class stars, something that will surely count against them when they come up against some of Europe’s big boys.

The Outsiders

It will be a tall order for anyone else to rise to the challenge and stake a claim for the European crown, but as we saw most recently in 2004, anything is possible in the Euros, and there may be a few teams worth an outside wager when betting on the Euro 2012 outright winner.

Should they qualify, the Russians will be a big threat with their numerous attacking options including Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin and Spurs Roman Pavlyuchenko to call upon. Sweden have been in fine form during the qualifiers, winning five out of six games so far thanks to the goals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a strong central defensive partnership of Olof Mellberg and Daniel Majstorovic making them very difficult to break down.

Fellow Scandinavians Denmark and Norway are both battling it out in the same group, alongside Portugal for a berth in the finals. Should they qualify, both teams would be capable of causing an upset or two, while the Czech Republic’s new generation of players finally seems to be gelling. Although they have struggled to match Spain in their qualifying group, they should certainly reach the play-offs and could well do some damage if they qualify. Check out our predictions for Euro 2012 as well, to find more tips take a look at Betbubbles.com for wagering on this big tournament.