Euro 2020: Group F guide

Group F fixtures, kick-off times and TV coverage

June 15 - Hungary 0-3 Portugal. Read the match report here. France 1-0 Germany. Read the match report here.

June 19 - Hungary 1-1 France. Read the match report here.  Portugal 2-4 Germany. Read the match report here.

June 23 - Germany 2-2 Hungary. Read the match report here. Portugal 2-2 France. Read the match report here.

Teams

Portugal: It’s finally time for European champions Portugal to defend their crown, five years on from their success in France.

While it was a historic summer for a nation that had never previously won a major tournament, some good fortune certainly contributed to their victory.

They drew all three group stage fixtures and Wales were the only team they beat in 90 minutes throughout the competition.

When it came to qualification for this summer’s event, Fernando Santos’ men had to settle for second place in Group B behind Ukraine, after winning just five of their eight matches (W5, D2, L1).

Germany: This is Joachim Low's swansong as manager of Germany, with Bayern Munich boss Hansi Flick set to replace him after the tournament. It seems the right time for a change given the 2014 World Cup winners’ decline in recent years.

They’ve reached the semi-finals in each of the previous two editions of the Euros, yet they exited at the group stage in the 2018 World Cup and have suffered some humbling defeats in recent times – most notably a 2-1 home loss to North Macedonia in March.

They did at least impress in qualifying, topping Group C with seven wins from eight matches.

Hungary: Qualification for Euro 2016 ended a 30-year wait to appear at a major tournament for Hungary – so a second consecutive appearance in this summer’s edition is a commendable achievement, even if they were far from convincing in securing their spot.

Despite going undefeated (W4, D4), they finished fourth in qualifying Group E, above only Azerbaijan, but were offered a lifeline thanks to a strong showing in the UEFA Nations League.

That gave them a place in the play-offs and they overcame Bulgaria (3-1) and Iceland (2-1) to book their place in this summer’s showpiece event.

France: Although they enjoyed glory at the 2018 World Cup, losing in the final of Euro 2016 on home soil left a bad taste in the mouth for France.

They'll therefore be keen to banish the ghosts of that experience and go one further this time around.

Unsurprisingly, the world champions come into the tournament as the bookmakers favourites after breezing through qualifying.

Didier Deschamps’ men won eight of their 10 matches, with only Turkey proving to be their kryptonite – taking four points off Les Bleus.

Venues

France and Portugal are set to be at the biggest disadvantage in Group F, given that Germany play all of their group stage fixtures at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

Hungary will need all the help they can get to qualify, but do at least play two of their three matches at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

Pre-tournament form guide

Since November 2019, only one team has managed to defeat Portugal, highlighting them as a strong contender to win the tournament (W9, D4, L1).

But that defeat did come against group rivals France, which could potentially put the Selecao at a psychological disadvantage when the two teams meet on the final matchday.

Germany have won only three of their last six matches heading into the tournament (W3, D1, L2), suffering a humiliating loss to Macedonia and a 6-0 hammering by the Netherlands.

They did demolish Latvia 7-1 in their final friendly, but it’s not clear whether that’ll be enough to raise their confidence levels for a tough set of fixtures in the coming weeks.

Hungary are rightfully massive underdogs to progress out of Group F, but they can take real encouragement from their strong recent form – going undefeated in their previous 11 matches (W7, D4).

A shock 2-0 defeat to Finland in November seems to have given France the wake up call they needed and they’ve won six of their seven games since, including that victory over Portugal.

Key game

We really are spoiled for choice in this group, but the opening matchday showdown between the two most recent winners of the World Cup, Germany and France, stands out.

The result in that game could very easily set the tone for the remainder of each side’s tournament, with a defeat for either team sure to pile on the pressure in their remaining group stage fixtures.

LiveScore verdict

This really is one of the toughest groups at a European Championship for many years. A case could be made for at least three of the sides to top the group, yet we fancy France to do so.

They’re world champions, in good form, have a great squad and will be motivated for revenge after what happened at the last edition of the tournament. Behind them, we expect holders Portugal to take second whilst Germany will be forced to settle for third.

Low’s outfit might avoid another embarrassing group stage exit though, as there are spots in the knockout stage for four of the best third-place sides.