Crazy facts about the European Championship stars Playstation debate, confusion over cycling accident and a secret child

Did you know that the two most valuable goalkeepers in the world today have Swiss passports - but only one of them plays for the national team? Here are the craziest facts about the 24 European Championship participants.

Group A

🇩🇪 When Germany's European Championship jersey was unveiled and went on sale, it didn't take long for it to be criticized. Not because of the design of the shirt, but because of the number on the back. The 44 is reminiscent of the runes of the SS, the Nazi protection squadron. Manufacturer Adidas reacted promptly, changed the shape and no longer sells jerseys with the back number 44.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The tough Scots as Swallow Kings? That's what Spain's midfield star Rodri accused the Scots of after the 2-0 defeat in the European Championship qualifiers: "They stall, they provoke you, they fall down every time. That's not football for me. The way they play football is garbage for me."

🇭🇺 Marco Rossi has been coach of the Hungarian national team since 2018. And he has also had Hungarian citizenship since 2023. Born in Italy, the 59-year-old has been working in Hungary since 2012 and coached the Honvéd and Dunajska Streda teams before joining the association. Where does his love for Hungarian football come from? Rossi once explained that his great-grandfather Luigi told him "every day" about Hungary's super team from the 1950s.

🇨🇭 Who won the 2016 European Championship? You don't have to be a great football expert to answer this question correctly. Or do you? Murat Yakin was asked this very question in a European Championship quiz in the UEFA magazine last year. The national team coach's answer: "No idea."

Group B

🇮🇹 Italian media reported weeks before the start of the tournament that Luciano Spalletti would forbid his players to play Playstation. "With the national team, you have to be focused. If the tasks during the day aren't enough for them, I give them homework for the evening," the coach was quoted as saying. Spalletti recently clarified that he had never said that and emphasized that he had nothing against video games. "We even set up a room with two Playstations - and yes, even I played along. I don't care what the players do. I just want them to come to training well-rested."

🇭🇷 The Croatians made it to the final at the 2018 World Cup and only reached the semi-finals in 2022. Croatia can also be expected to do well at this European Championship. The national team's success is also phenomenal because the country has a population of less than 4 million, which is less than half that of "little" Switzerland.

🇪🇸 Johan Vonlanthen was 18 years, 4 weeks and 20 days old when he scored for Switzerland in a 1:1 draw against France at the 2004 European Championship. Vonlanthen is still the youngest goalscorer in European Championship history. But his record is in serious danger this year. The reason: Lamine Yamal. The Spanish super talent from Barça is just 16 years old and much more than just a substitute at the European Championships.

🇦🇱 For years, the Albanian national team has also included players with a strong Swiss connection. This year is no exception. Berat Djimsiti, for example, was born and grew up in Zurich. He also made 135 appearances for the FCZ professionals before he was dropped by the Zurich club. The then 21-year-old sought his fortune in Italy - and found it. At Atalanta Bergamo, Djimsiti is now half a club legend (240 games) and recently celebrated winning the Europa League with Atalanta.

Group C

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 At the beginning of the year, Kyle Walker confessed in an interview that he had made "idiotic decisions" and said that he bitterly regretted cheating on his wife Annie Kilner again. The background to the public confession is a secret child that Walker's affair Lauryn Goodman gave birth to last year. His still-wife Annie is said not to have known about it for a long time. After Christmas, she was personally informed by Goodman about the birth of the child. It is Walker's second child with Goodman. The England international is also expecting his fourth child with Kilner.

🇸🇮 There are no big names in the Slovenian team. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak is the only one of world-class caliber. But there is one world-famous person from Slovenia: Melania Trump. The former First Lady and wife of Donald Trump grew up in Sevnica when Slovenia was still part of Yugoslavia. Melania's surname back then was Knavs.

🇷🇸 Serbia is taking part in a European Championship for the first time ever. Since the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the Serbs have always failed to qualify.

🇩🇰 Speaking of Yugoslavia: Yugoslavia was removed from the tournament shortly before the 1992 European Championship due to the Balkan conflict, despite having successfully qualified beforehand, and replaced by the runner-up in the qualifying group - Denmark. This meant that the Danes would not actually have been able to play in Sweden. In the end, Denmark actually won the tournament and caused one of the biggest sensations in football history.

Group D

🇳🇱 Bonds coach Ronald Koeman fielded no fewer than 37 different players in the European Championship qualifiers. Only Virgil van Dijk, Xavi Simons and Wout Weghorst were always on the pitch. Joshua Zirkzee, a striker who has yet to play a single international match, was called up shortly before the start of the European Championship.

🇫🇷 Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappé ... the French have always had world-class strikers in their ranks. However, the Équipe Tricolore's record goalscorer with 57 goals is someone who has always been somewhat underestimated: Olivier Giroud. The Milan goalscorer, who only made his national team debut at the age of 25, is also in the squad this year and could add to his goal tally in Germany. However, the soon-to-be 38-year-old will retire from the national team after the European Championship.

🇦🇹 David Alaba will not be able to play at the European Championships due to a knee injury. Nevertheless, the actual captain will be involved: team boss Ralf Rangnick has unceremoniously appointed Alaba to the coaching staff for the tournament.

🇵🇱 Goalie Wojciech Szczesny was on the verge of resigning from the national team. After Poland successfully qualified for the European Championship, the 33-year-old confirmed that he would have left the team if they had failed to make the play-offs against Estonia and Wales.

Group E

🇧🇪 Thibaut Courtois missed almost the entire season with a cruciate ligament rupture. The 32-year-old was fit again just in time for the Champions League final - and witched Real Madrid to their 15th Champions League title with a brilliant performance. However, the 2018 world goalkeeper will be absent from the European Championship. The official line is that Courtois is not yet fit enough after his long injury. But the truth is that the keeper fell out with Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco some time ago. Read more here.

🇸🇰 Francesco Calzona had a dual role until recently: in February, his former club Napoli asked him for help, so the Italian coached not only the Slovakian national team but also the then reigning Italian champions.

🇷🇴 The Romanians have the lowest market value of all the European Championship teams. With an average of 3.5 million euros per player, Romania has the weakest team in the tournament on paper. Switzerland is in 14th place with an average market value of 10.8 million euros, but the qualifiers showed that this doesn't really mean much: Romania picked up four points in their two games against Switzerland. Incidentally, England have the most valuable European Championship players with an average market value of 58.3 million euros.

🇺🇦 Lewandowski? Vinicius? Griezmann? No, the top scorer of the past LaLiga season is Artem Dovbyk, who plays for Girona. The 26-year-old scored 24 goals to fire his team into the Champions League. Now the whole of Ukraine is hoping for goal machine Dovbyk at the European Championship.

Group F

🇵🇹 According to Transfermarkt, the two most valuable goalkeepers in the world (market value: 40 million euros) both come from Switzerland! However, Gregor Kobel does not share first place with Yann Sommer, but with Diogo Costa. The latter was born in Rothrist, Aargau, in 1999 and spent the first seven years of his life there before returning home with his Portuguese parents. Costa also holds a Swiss passport.

🇹🇷 Have you ever wondered why Turkish national team players often only have their first name on their shirts? The reason is relatively simple. Football has existed in Turkey for longer than surnames, which were only introduced in 1934.

🇬🇪 Georgia are the big underdogs at the European Championships - and are only there thanks to a detour via the Nations League. The Georgians, who are ranked 75th in the FIFA world rankings, beat Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Gibraltar in the weakest League C competition. They then beat Luxembourg and Greece in the play-offs.

🇨🇿 Shortly before the start of the tournament, the Czechs were in great disarray. An association spokesman admitted that they had not told the truth when announcing Michal Sadilek's absence from the European Championship. The Czechs had previously spoken of a bicycle crash during a regeneration training session. However, the midfielder had crashed while riding down a hill on tricycle-like karts with two other players on a day off during the training camp. His shin injury required 65 stitches.