Euro 2020 commences this weekend, and there seems to be a conventional wisdom as to which nations are the leading contenders in the field. When you look at the rosters of the short list of sides who could realistically claim the Euro title, you’ll see Chelsea FC players everywhere.
In other words, if you’ve been paying attention to the giant London club for a while, then you’re going to see some familiar faces in most of the matches over the next month. Let’s run through it.
We start with FIFA’s #2 ranked team, the reigning world champion France. If you bet on Euro 2020, then you’ll typically see Les Bleus as the favorite. And they have three Blues in their side, led by masterful midfielder N’Golo Kante. He’s joined in the squad by Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud.
England, ranked #4 in the world, are receiving odds almost as favorable as the French, and they have a troika of Chelsea men in Mason Mount, Reece James and Ben Chilwell. Germany, who have fallen down a peg or two lately, but look poised to resume their place among the world’s elite, have a triad of Chelsea stars. It consists of Kai Havertz, the world’s all-time most expensive German player, another 2020 summer acquisition in Timo Werner, and central defender Antonio Rudiger.
Italy is a strong dark horse in the field, with decent odds, and they boast a Chelsea pair in defender Emerson Palmieri and midfielder Jorginho. The reigning Champions League winners also see their team captain, Cesar Azpilicueta, on the squad of Spain, another strong dark horse in the field.
Overall, it should be a very exciting tournament, staged entirely on the continent that is synonymous with the best football on the planet. (Although I’m sure some South American supporters will have something to say about that last sentence in the comments section). No matter who you support on the club level, there are numerous nations with multiple story angles for you to follow.
However, for the Chelsea supporter, and of course for the fans of the Blues’ rival clubs, we can see plenty of reasons for you to be emotionally invested.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.