Spain, Croatia and Turkey drawn together at Euro 2016

There will be plenty for Barça fans to look forward to at the Euro 2016 finals in France next summer, and the picture is a whole lot clearer following the draw held in Paris on Saturday.

Three ‘Barça’ teams together

It’s in Group D where most of the Barça interest lies, with Spain, Croatia and Turkey, all of whom have representatives from the club in their squad, drawn together with the Czech Republic. Spain manager Vicente del Bosque used all of Gerard Piqué, Marc Bartra, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta and Aleix Vidal in the qualifying campaign, and is looking to secure what would be Spain’s third consecutive continental title and a record fourth in total. Spain open their campaign on June 13 in Toulouse against the Czechs.

Turkey and Croatia debut a day earlier in Paris. The Turks, who have Arda Turan in their ranks, qualified after finishing third in a qualifying group that also included their Euro 2016 rivals  from the Czech Republic, while Ivan Rakitic, who has just been named Croatian Sportsman of the Year, is the star of the show in his own national team.

Difficult for Belgium and Germany

Thomas Vermaelen’s Belgium were one of the top seeded teams for the draw, but they’ve ended up in what many are likely to deem the ‘group of death’. They open against 2006 World Cup winners Italy, and follow that with tricky games against the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.

And world champions Germany, for whom Mar Andre Ter Stegen has been named in recent squads but has yet to make his official debut, will meet Poland again, a side they already lost to in qualifying. They open Group C against Ukraine and close it against first time qualifiers Northern Ireland.

Complete Euro 2016 draw

Group A: France, Romania, Albania, Switzerland

Group B: England, Wales, Slovakia, Russia

Group C: Germany, Northern Ireland, Poland, Ukraine  

Group D: Spain, Turkey, Czech Republic, Croatia

Group E: Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Italy

Group F: Portugal, Iceland, Hungary, Austria