The UEFA European Championships started as a four-team finals tournament in 1960, and from those humble beginnings, the tournament has grown from strength to strength. Though the 2020 finals were dealt a blow by the coronavirus pandemic, this didn’t lessen interest in the competition, and from 2024 onwards, it has continued to grow in popularity.
The finals of the tournament now involve 24 teams, and the Euros are now the second biggest international football competition in the world, and that’s reflected in the sheer size of interest in tickets to see all major qualifiers and the finals themselves.
UEFA has attempted to deal with this interest in a diplomatic manner, offering the first tranche of tickets via a lottery-style system and doing so even before the draw is made, which leads millions of football-mad supporters to apply for games without even knowing who will be playing, knowing only the date of the game in question and the location it will take place in.
The next release comes just after the draw is made, resulting in a mad panic that will see the majority disappointed. Thankfully, there is an alternative, and that comes in the form of SeatPick’s ticketing platform.
We work with hundreds of the most trusted ticket reseller sites, many of which you’ll be aware of, and then aggregate their offering to one platform that our users can access, which then gives them the widest possible selection to pick from.
They can then easily compare prices and find precisely what they are looking for, at the best prices, from general admission tickets to hospitality packages; it can all be found on SeatPick in a click or two.
France vs Slovakia UEFA Euros Tournament Record
The very first UEFA European Championships were hosted in France in 1960. The French had to qualify in order to take part, and once there, they faced Yugoslavia in the Semi-Finals and were 4-2 ahead with 15 minutes to play but somehow contrived to lose 5-4.
The French then failed to qualify for any of the next five editions of the tournament before returning as hosts in 1984, where they made quite a bang. The Euro 84 finals are considered by many as the moment that the tournament truly came of age, and a lot of that has to do with the way Michel Hidalgo’s side swept the board with their impressive attacking flair.
The likes of Michel Platini, Didier Six, and Alain Giresse provided that flair, while the likes of Patrick Battison and keeper Joel Bats kept things calm at the back. France beat Portugal in a titanic Semi-Final before easing past Spain in the UEFA European Championship Final, with Platini and Bruno Bellone applying the finishing touches to a 2-0 win in Paris.
It would take until 1996 before France once again impressed in the competition, and on that occasion, they were unfortunate to lose to the Czech Republic in the Semi-Finals, going out on penalties at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.
Four years later, buoyed by their 1998 FIFA World Cup triumph, France took a great run to the knockout phases before securing comeback wins against Portugal in the Semi-Finals and Italy in the final, with David Trezeguet scoring a wonderful extra-time winner in Amsterdam.
Their next appearance in the final came at Euro 2016, where France were once again the hosts. However, on this occasion, Portugal got a measure of revenge for those previous defeats, beating Didier Deschamps's side 1-0 in the final thanks to a superb long-range finish from substitute forward Eder.
Slovakia have competed in the UEFA European Championship since 1996, appearing as Czechoslovakia prior to that, and they failed to make it to the finals until Euro 2016.
At that competition, led by the likes of Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Napoli playmaker Marek Hamsik, Slovakia lost their opener to Wales before beating Russia to set up an important final game against England. It was a game they could not afford to lose, and they battled manfully to secure a goalless draw in Saint-Etienne to get to the Round of 16.
There, they met a strong German side and were skittled out of the competition thanks to goals from Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez, and Julian Draxler.
They made it to the Euro 2020 finals as well, but on that occasion, they couldn’t get out of their group.
France vs Slovakia Head-to-Head
France and Slovakia have met in two UEFA European Championship qualifiers, these coming in the run-up to Euro 96.
The first of these ended 0-0 in Bratislava, and the return game was won convincingly by the French with David Ginola, Laurent Blanc, Vincent Guerin, and an Ondrej Kristofik own goal securing a 4-0 win for Aime Jacquet’s side in Nantes.
