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This certainly seems to be one of the most evenly matched Euro 2016 groups, with all four teams having an honest chance to qualify, especially as the 3rd place can potentially go trough as well. A new look England side remains the clear cut favorite to finish first, but they will need to be at their best in order to avoid potential upsets against competent opponents.

England – odds to win Group B: 1.85 @ Unibet

England has clearly changed for the better in recent years and the Brits now have a team that finally gives fans real hope at performing. The big names of the past have been replaced with young, exuberant, fast and dynamic players; England actually owns the youngest squad in the Euros. The striking duo of Kane – Vardy is arguably the most dangerous one in these Euros, as both of these guys are in the form of their life – as are many other England players. With 10 wins in the last 12 matches England is definitely looking good coming into this tournament, but they still have to prove themselves at top International level – they did not do it in a long time and many of the current players are inexperienced on the International stage. There`s also a question over Roy Hodgson’s abilities to lead a title challenger. All in all, I fancy England to perform in France. I think they’ll win Group B and go far in the tournament, maybe all the way.

• Key players: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy
• Strong spots: Offense, Explosiveness, In form key players, Youth, Pace, Individual quality
• Weak spots: Coaching, Lack of experience at International level, Immobile central defense

RUSSIA – odds to qualify: 1.38 @ 1xBet

As usual, Russia will approach the final tournament with a squad composed of domestic-based players, with the exception of new addition Neustädter, who plays for Stuttgart. The Russians fired Fabio Capello last year after their long-term experiment with the Italian manager failed and hired Leonid Slutsky, who managed to qualify the team to Euro 2016 from a losing position by winning the last 4 group games. However, Russia’s recent form has been poor, with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats in the last 5 friendlies – where the defense looked particulary bad. Overall the team isn`t looking very differently compared to the last few years – a solid side, but inconsistent and seemingly unable to surpass a certain level. If they don`t bring their ‘A game’, the Russians will be in real danger of failing to qualify from this difficult group.

• Key players: Artyom Dzyuba, Oleg Shatov
• Strong spots: Decent overall quality, Depth, Chemistry
• Weak spots: Recent form in friendlies, Inconsistency, Lack of star power

WALES – odds to qualify: 1.75 @ Betfair

Wales reaching the final tournament was a huge achievement for a nation that is more concerned with Rugby, not having success in football since a very long time ago. Fortunately for the Welsh, they now have a very good generation with a lot of solid Premier League players and two terrific leaders in Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. Bale was brilliant in the qualifiers, scoring and setting up crucial goal after crucial goal – even when his form at Real Madrid was poor. The team is set up well tactically and well coached by Chris Coleman, so they will always stand a chance with Bale and Ramsey in their ranks. However, their form in friendlies has been poor, with 1 draw and 3 defeats since the Euro 2016 qualies ended.

• Key players: Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey
• Strong spots: Defense, Chemistry and tactics, Owns star power and difference makers
• Weak spots: Lack of depth, Overall lack of experience at this level, Too dependent on Bale, Poor form in friendlies

SLOVAKIA – odds to qualify: 2.30 @ Ohmbet

Slovakia is regarded as the weakest team in Group B by the bookies, but neither England, Sweden or Russia can expect an easy match against them. An analysis might well show that Slovakia is better than at least one of Russia or Wales. The Slovakians have a good squad, a couple of world class players and they proved themselves in the qualifying group by beating Spain and finishing second ahead of Ukraine. Slovakia defeated plenty of other top sides in the last couple of years (since coach Kozak took over) – most notably Germany (a few days ago), Poland, Switzerland, Iceland, Czech Republic or Ukraine. This team won 17 of the last 24 matches, so only a crazy man could rule them out. In most likelyhood, at least one of Russia or Wales will finish below Slovakia here – whose giant killing ability should also put England in guard. Staying injury free will be crucial for an aging Slovakia side that does not have proper replacements if one or more of their top guys miss out.

• Key players: Marek Hamsik, Martin Skrtel
• Strong spots: Great form, Proven giant killing ability, Chemistry, Coaching, Midfield
• Weak spots: Lack of dependable striker, Aging squad, Lack of depth in key positions

You will find all of our articles, group previews and betting talk in the Euro 2016 blog topic, both pre – tournament and during the tournament. When it all starts on June 10th, make sure to check out Betdistrict’s Euro 2016 tips, as we will have predictions for all the matches in France.

Hosts France were very lucky with the draw for Euro 2016, having been assigned in a group with Switzerland and two of the worst 4 teams competing in the Euros – Romania and Albania. France should win the group, while the fight for the next spots seems open – with Switzerland as a rather clear favorite ahead of Romania and Albania.

FRANCE – odds to win Group A: 1.36 @ Betfair

France is currently viewed as the main favorite to win Euro 2016 and you can`t argue with the bookies, considering the quality in the squad and the home court advantage. I would still fancy teams like Germany or even England ahead of France, but as far as Group A goes, they should cruise. There`s really not much else to be said aside from the facts that Les Bleus are miles ahead of the other teams in terms of quality and that they are in very good form. France won its last 4 friendlies, scoring 3 or more goals in each one of them – including a 3-0 victory over Scotland in the last match played before Euro 2016. The worst case scenario for France in Group A seems like 7 points, in case Switzerland has its best day in their direct match, but even then France would probably win the group via goal difference.

• Key players: Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba
• Strong spots: Overall individual quality, Offense, Midfield, Depth, Form, Home court factor
• Weak spots: Benzema’s absence, Defense tends to lose focus at times

SWITZERLAND – odds to qualify: 1.25 @ Ohmbet

Switzerland is the second best team in the group by a large margin. On their day, they can mix it out with any side in the world, as showed in the recent World Cup, when only an 118th minute Di Maria goal denied them a penalty shootout against Argentina. Switzerland has what it takes to challenge France, but they must also avoid inconsistency and improve on recent form if they don`t want to be surprised by Albania and Romania. Switzerland lost its last 3 friendly games before barely beating Moldova 2-1 in their last preparation match ahead of Euro 2016. They also can`t rely on a top class, proven goalscorer to finish off the chances provided by their world class midfield – but they do have options and at least one of Seferovic, Embolo, Mehmedi or Derdiyok is bound to find his best form during the tournament.

• Key players: Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka
• Strong spots: Individual quality, Midfield, Experience at the top level
• Weak spots: Recent form in friendlies, Inconsistency

ROMANIA – odds to qualify: 1.83 @ William Hill

A case can be made that Romania did not have such a weak generation of players in more than 50 years and they mostly qualified due to being drawn in the weakest (ever?) qualifying group – as the three teams that qualified from that group (Romania, Northern Ireland and Hungary) are now rated as the worst sides in the tournament, along with Albania.

The 23 man squad contains a single footballer that is playing regularly for a decent side abroad and that is keeper Tatarusanu (Fiorentina). The rest of the squad features players from a poor domestic league, eternal bench warmers at average European clubs and a few guys playing regularly for sides like Cordoba or Ludogorets. With little to no offensive power, Romania relies on defense and a well covered keeper position to grind out results. They allowed just 2 goals in the qualifying group and held teams like Italy and Spain to draws in recent friendlies. A strong spot for Romania is it`s chemistry and depth. All players in the squad can do the job just as well as the other guy, so injuries, suspensions or fatigue should not be a problem. Overall, Romania doesn`t seem well prepared for Euro 2016, as the level of play in the pre – tournament friendlies confirmed. They will fight for the 3rd place with Albania.

• Key players: Ciprian Tatarusanu, Nicusor Stanciu
• Strong spots: Squad chemistry, Central Defense, Depth
• Weak spots: Zero creativity, No offensive power, Weak midfield, Poor individual quality, Coaching

ALBANIA – odds to qualify: 3.10 @ Betfair

Albania is not taken seriously by most pundits and football fans, but that is a mistake. Albania is definitely better than advertised and showed the ability to produce upsets, beating Portugal on the road in the Euro 2016 qualies and claiming a shock win over group opponents France in a friendly last year – so neither Switzerland or France can afford to take them lightly. Also, Albania can match Romania in terms of quality, actually having more guys playing regularly at solid European clubs than the Romanians. When you look at the backbone of the team, Berisha (Lazio) – Hysaj (Napoli) – Cana (Nantes) – Xhaka (Basel), a solid argument can be made that Albania is not the weakest team in this group. A top 2 position still seems like a stretch, but Albania can hurt Romania and / or Switzerland, hoping to qualify from the 3rd spot.

• Key players: Taulant Xhaka, Lorik Cana
• Strong spots: Surprise factor, First class team leaders
• Weak spots: Poor overall individual quality, Lack of depth, Lack of experience

You will find all of our articles, group previews and betting talk in the Euro 2016 blog topic, both pre – tournament and during the tournament. When it all starts on June 10th, make sure to check out Betdistrict’s Euro 2016 tips, as we will have predictions for all the matches in France.

With Euro 2016 set to kick out in June, Ohmbet has supplemented the prize pool for this month’s tipster competition with 100 Eur and Betdistrict is throwing an extra 20 Eur in the mix as well, so there`s every reason to provide good tips in the next 30 days.

As such, there`s an 120 Eur increase in the prize pool. There will be 340 Eur to be credited in prizes – 200 Eur in freebets and 140 euro cash via Skrill. There will be 7 winners instead of the usual 5.

Article written by our friend and editor Alin, Tipsterscorner.com

This is an outright pick for Sao Paulo to win the 2015 / 2016 Copa Libertadores. Sao Paolo is the joint second favorite, along with Rosario Central and behind Boca Juniors. The Brazilians are currently priced at odds 6.00 to win it all by Bwin.

First, let me tell you my background on these kind of picks.

• In the 2010 World Cup I took Holland, for odds 21, reached the final, lost.
• In the 2012 Euro I took Italy, for odds 13, before the Croatia game, reached the final, lost.
• In 2015, I WANTED to take River Plate, before their last 2 group games, odds 21. Asked around, got very negative feedback, skipped it. They won it.
• Now I am taking Sao Paulo to win the Libertadores and this time I think things will go as planned.

Sao Paolo has a great coach in Edgardo Bauza, he won the Libertadores with 2 different teams, San Lorenzo of Argentina and LDU Quito from Ecuador. They also have good chemistry in squad. I wrote about them in the past. They improved their defense, with Lugano and Maicon (from Porto), improved the attack with Calleri, and got some players like Centurion and Ganso to give better performances. The squad is really strong, including many recognizible names that played at the highest level in Europe.

Sao Paolo’s first 11: Denis – Bruno, Maicon, Lugano, Mena – Hudson, Mendes – Wesley, Ganso, Bastos – Calleri

I think fair odds should be around 3.00. I see just 3 teams capable of winning the Libertadores this year: Boca, Nacional Medellin and Sao Paolo. Each with an equal chance. And from these 3 teams, Sao Paolo has the best coach, so there is definitely value.

Also there would be Atletico Mineiro, but now Sao Paolo just won 1-0 against them in the first leg of the quarterfinals and it’s the perfect result. From my stats, in 79% cases, the team that wins the first leg 1-0, manages to qualify themselves.

The result against Mineiro was huge. Not only is Sao Paolo a big favorite to knock out a strong rival, but they also have an advantage over all other clubs. Sao Paolo already played the first leg of the quarterfinals and got an excellent score, while the other teams have not, so they have extra work to do.

At odds 6.00, I am happy to take this bet. I am backing Sao Paolo to win the 2016 Libertadores. As I previously stated, you can find these odds at Bwin.com.

Our friends at Tipsterscorner launched a great service and we at Betdistrict want to recommend it:
Be the first to catch opening odds at Pinnacle with PinnyAlert.com Receive notification by e-mail.

You were my favorite player. You were one of the 3 men for which I still root for in sports, along with Roger Federer and Valentino Rossi. Soon enough, I`ll only be left with my football club, Dinamo Bucharest, which I know does not deserve a spot in the same sentence as you.

It was a privilege to see you play. Writing this, I feel just like the 12 year old that fell in love with basketball because of you. Watching your last match, I felt just like the people who are proud, to this day, that they have seen Michael Jordan in action.

60 points and winning single-handedly a game that seemed lost, at 37 years old, in your last outing? You sent us back 10 years ago. You could not have written this. You had the greatest farewell performance I have ever seen. Ever!

I can tell my kids that I watched Roger Federer, Valentino Rossi, Lionel Messi, Jonah Lomu, Michael Schumacher, Mike Tyson, Michael Phelps or Steph Curry (did you see what he did today?). But the first on the list might be you. You were as great as all these men. Better!

You were just a basketball player, so maybe you do not deserve all the fame and adoration, maybe not so much money either. But the memories you put in people’s minds don`t have a price and will last forever. You put another one in today, at the end.

Thank you for that #24,
Rostick