Home of football statistics and historySpain’s recent success at the 2026 World Cup in North America cemented their status as the finest international team on the planet.
They will now switch their attention to the 2028 European Championship – a tournament they have won on four previous occasions.
Spain are the bookmakers’ favourites to retain the prestigious trophy, which is not surprising given the manner of their performances in recent years.
Many of their main rivals will head into the event with question marks hanging over them after coming up short in previous tournaments.
Read on as we look at five teams who have a point to prove at Euro 2028.
France
France are amongst the countries which have changed managers this summer, with Zinedine Zidane replacing Didier Deschamps in the hot-seat.
Deschamps did well to improve France’s fortunes during his time in charge, famously guiding them to success at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
However, a strong argument can be made for describing France as underachievers due to a succession of failures in other major tournaments.
Zidane has plenty of world-class players at his disposal. His challenge is to build on the foundations established by Deschamps and turn them into serial winners.
England
England are the poster-boys for failure in international football. A tally of just one World Cup win on home soil in 1966 hammers home that point.
The Three Lions went into the 2026 World Cup as one of the favourites to lift the trophy. Only foolish punters will have thought they were a good bet to achieve the feat.
Manager Thomas Tuchel talked a good game ahead of the World Cup, but ultimately blew a golden opportunity to end their trophy drought this summer.
England are one of the co-hosts of Euro 2028, so the pressure on Tuchel to justify his status as a so-called ‘elite coach’ will be off the scale.
Germany
Since winning the World Cup twelve years ago, Germany have repeatedly failed to live up to their billing in international football.
They suffered another disappointment this summer, with Paraguay eliminating from the World Cup following a thrilling penalty shoot-out in Boston.
Julian Nagelsmann quit as manager after the tournament and he has subsequently been replaced by former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
The 59-year-old faces a difficult to task to restore Germany to their former glories, with their squad lacking the depth and quality of other top nations.
Netherlands
Despite developing some of the greatest footballers of all time, the Netherlands have only won one major international trophy.
The Dutch were brilliant at Euro 1988, displaying the swaggering football that had become their hallmark during the previous decade.
They have repeatedly failed since then, most recently exiting the World Cup in the round of 32 after a penalty shoot-out defeat against Morocco.
Ronald Koeman subsequently stepped down as manager and has yet to be replaced. Whoever takes over will inherit a squad that needs a major overhaul.
Portugal
Portugal’s success at Euro 2016 was expected to be the start of a golden era, but things have not gone to plan since then.
The presence of veteran forward Cristiano Ronaldo in the squad has increasingly become a distraction for a nation that keeps finding new ways to fail.
Jorge Jesus has been appointed as Roberto Martinez’s replacement and it will be intriguing to see whether he is brave enough to move on from Ronaldo.
If Jesus panders to the 41-year-old, Portugal will not be in contention to win Euro 2028.
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