Euro 2020 Dark Horses

We’re now less than a week away from the start of the delayed Euro 2020 tournament, which kicks off in Rome on Friday June 11th at 8pm GMT in Rome, where Italy host Turkey at the Stadio Olimpico. 

Ahead, of the tournament, all of the talk has naturally been on the Euro 2020 favourites. England are amongst the favourites to win Euro 2020 with many UK bookmakers, alongside the likes of France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy and reigning champions Portugal.

Euro 2020 Odds - Can a Smaller Nation Win It?

While the big names are naturally taking the majority of the limelight in the run up to Euro 2020, history tells us that this is an international tournament more prone to an upset than the World Cup. 

Back in 1992, Denmark failed to qualify for the tournament, but were inserted last minute in place of Yuogslavia, following the breakout of war in the country. Denmark then went on to do the impossible and win the tournament.

Fast forward 12 years and another team of rank outsiders stepped up to take the crown. A tough to watch, but resolute and hard working Greece side managed to see off Portugal in the Euro 2004 final.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to take a look at the Euro 2020 betting odds for the dark horses who are potentially worth a punt.

Euro 2020 - Who Has the Potential to Pull Off a Shock?

Turkey

There are a few reasons why Turkey are worth considering as dark horses to go far in Euro 2020. First and foremost, there’s a a decent amount of quality in their squad, with Hakan Çalhanoğlu of AC Milan and Merih Demiral of Juventus being just two names amongst their ranks. Closer to home, the most recognisable name in the Turkish squad for English football fans is Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu.

Turkey qualified for the tournament with relative ease, finishing second in their group behind France - no shame in that. They actually took four points from their two games against Les Blues and only just missed out on pipping them to the top spot. They have also put in strong performances recently, including their 4-2 World Cup qualifying win over the Netherlands back in March.

They are in Group A with Italy, Wales and Switzerland. Although they have a tough opener against Italy in Rome, they then go on to play both Wales and Switzerland in Baku. Wales and Switzerland impressed in Euro 2016, however both sides have fallen from grace over the past few years. Additionally, Baku in Azerbaijan is right next door to Turkey - therefor current travel restrictions could play into Turkey’s hands, effectively making the games in Baku feel like home ties.

In all likelihood, Turkey should finish second in their group, which would mean they play the second team in Group B in the round of 16. This means they are most likely to meet either Denmark or Russia should they progress. While neither of these sides are pushovers, this does give Turkey a half decent route to the quarters and potentially the semis.

You can back Turkey to win Euro 2020 at odds of 50/1 right now with 888sport.

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Poland

Any team with one of the most prolific strikers in world football has to be given at least an outside chance of going on a half decent run in the Euro 2020. Poland can’t be swept aside as a team consisting of Robert Lewandowski and ten planks of wood though. With the midfield being lead by Liverpool target Piotr Zielinski and Wojciech Szczęsny between the sticks - there’s plenty of quality to be found in the Polish squad.

They showed that they are far from being a one man team at Wembley back in March. England relied on a late winner from Harry Maguire to see off a Polish side who were without Lewandowski for the World Cup qualifier due to injury.

Poland are in Group E with Spain, Sweden and Slovakia. Zlatan Imbraemovic had planned on coming out of international retirement to help Sweden, but has now been ruled out with a knee injury. Unlike Poland, Sweden don’t have much back up when missing their star man.

This means Poland should finish second in their group behind Spain, which means they would theoretically play second place in group D. Should this come to pass, they could potentially meet World Cup finalists Croatia. However, they are a side that has somewhat fallen off the pace recently during World Cup qualification.

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Ukraine

Ukraine perhaps don’t have the quality of the two teams mentioned above, however the tactical work of manager Andriy Shevchenko has been somewhat revolutionary. Thanks to his 4-3-3 formation, with the occasional switching to a back three, Ukraine finished top of their qualifying group above reigning champions Portugal.

Saying they lack quality is something of a disservice - they do have Manchester City’s Andriy Shevchenko, who plays in a midfield role for his country, as opposed to in defence as he does at club level. He is joined in midfield by Ruslan Malinovskyi of Atalanta, and they have a host of Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv players among their ranks.

Despite their impressive Euro 2020 qualification campaign, Ukraine’s recent performances have dipped. They beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in their friendly last Thursday, but prior to that they had four back-to-back 1-1 draws. The first of these draws was away to France in the World Cup qualifiers, showing that they do have the metal to go toe-to-toe with the favourites.

They are in Group C with North Macedonia, Austria and the Netherlands. Although a testy group on paper, the Netherlands have shown recently that their defence is far from rock solid. Ukraine should have solid hopes of making it out of their group, either in second place or perhaps even pipping the Dutch to the top spot.

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