A look at the 16 nations of Euro 2012

Ukraine are looking good to make it a memorable Euro for them as co-hosts, while Poland's home advantage is unlikely to give them much edge to progress far.

Despite their wealth of talent and the brand of attacking football, Spain will be sorely tested to retain their title next summer.

One of Spain's biggest challengers will be Germany, with their seemingly inexhaustible resource of young footballers gelling well at the international stage. 

Italy have left behind the nightmarish 2010 World Cup with a new generation of promising footballers taking up the Azzurri mantle, while Holland's promising squad will be looking to repeat their World Cup performance to take them all the way.

Endowed with a wealth of local players, Russia are looking to spring a few surprises at the upcoming continental competition.

Portugal will be relying on superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to bring them through next summer, but the same cannot be said of England, whose own superstar Wayne Rooney will miss the group stages of the tournament.

The English will need to navigate the media properly as well, with off-field antics taking more attention than on-field heroics in recent tournaments.

France have also had their share of recent dressing-room woes after their implosion at the 2010 World Cup, but manager Laurent Blanc seems to have everything under control for the French to seek redemption.

However, Ireland may be wishing for the opposite for France, who made it to the Africa in 2010 at their expense with a dubious goal from Thierry Henry and made them wait for next summer's event to make their first major tournament since the 2002 World Cup.

Sweden also missed out on the 2010 World Cup, but will be looking io captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic to bring back the golden days in the early 1990s while neighbours Denmark will be turning to manager Morten Olsen to bring the trophy back to the Danes, who won it in 1992.

Greece upset the balance of football after winning Euro 2004, and will be looking to pull off another result next summer, albeit in a more entertaining manner under new manager Fernando Santos.

With 'rockstar manager' Slaven Bilic at the helm, Croatia's young team will be looking to announce themselves at the international stage.

Last but not least, Czech Republic will be hoping that their status as underdogs will allow them to pull off some surprising results.