Prizemoney
Having qualified for next summer’s European Championships the next big date on the horizon for the FAI is December 11th when Uefa’s executive committee will meet in Paris. Amongst other things, that meeting will decide on the level of prize money to be awarded to participating teams. In 2012 the basic figure was €8 million for each participating nation and it is sure to be a least that again with some suggesting that it may rise by as much as 50 per cent per team.
The Draw
Takes place on December 12th, also in Paris. The line-up won’t be completed until after the last playoff games tonight but the Republic of Ireland, like Northern Ireland, are set to be fourth seeds and so the two sides cannot be drawn together.
The top seeds will be France, Germany, Spain, England, Portugal and Belgium. It appears that the others seedings will be as follows . . .
Pot Two: Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia and Ukraine or Czech Republic.
Pot Three: Czech Republic or Turkey, Sweden or Denmark, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary.
Pot Four: Turkey or Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Wales, Albania and Northern Ireland.
This, however, is subject to confirmation by Uefa.
Groups
The teams will be drawn into six groups of four. The top two sides from each group along with the four best third-placed sides will progress to the Round of 16 after which the competition reverts to a straight knockout format.
Dates & Venues
The tournament kicks-off on June 10th at the Stade de France with a match between the host nation and the second seeded team in Group A. It runs until July 10th when the final will again be played at Saint Denis. The nine other venues being used are the Parc des Princes in Paris, Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, St Etienne and Toulouse.
Tickets
Many of the tickets have already been sold but the ones aimed at supporters of participating nations go on sale on December 15th. Fans will have from then until January to apply for either individual matches or tickets that enable to follow all of their team’s games.
Prices vary pretty wildly with the cheapest - Category Four seats (very high or very low behind the goals) for group or Round of 16 games going for just €25 apiece but Category One seats (most of the capacity in the main stands) even for those games will set you back €145 each with a decent sideline view at the final priced at €895. Corporate hospitality tickets should be available for Ireland’s games this morning via Uefa.com priced €1,746 a pop or you can take in all three games for €4,365. Throw the final in on top of the group games and you’re looking at €8,633.
Those are “gold” level premium tickets. For “platinum” level a box holding 10 people at all seven games (the opener, three other group games, a Round of 16 game, a quarter-final and the final) available for €246,380 or €3,519 per person per game. Food, drink and team-sheets thankfully included.
