Euro 2016 draw results: France handed Group A they’re likely to win

France were automatically placed into Group A for the Euro 2016 draw, and it was kind to them. Switzerland and Romania are no pushovers, but neither can be considered the best in their pot. And Albania, while they did well to qualify for the tournament, were gifted some points due to crowd trouble. They’re largely considered to be one of the weakest teams in the tournament.

Meet the teams:

While the hosts frequently seem to disappoint in big international tournaments, France seem likely to go a long ways in the Euros. They’ve got a roster loaded with prodigious young talents and quality veterans in their prime, which is a promising setup for these kinds of tournaments. Their mix of athleticism, technical skill, and power among their players is a potent one, and France won’t be an easy team for anyone to beat. They’re not a lock to even make the semifinals, but they’ll almost certainly be in the mix to get there. And after drawing this group, they’ll certainly be in good shape to go far.

Key player: Paul Pogba

Pogba is one of the most talented players in the entire tournament and can single-handedly change any game he’s involved in. He can make a difference at both ends of the pitch with his monstrous skillset -- but he tends to suffer from some of the consistency problems that plague younger players. If France can keep Pogba focused and motivated, though, there’s not a midfield in the tournament that can properly contain him.

A few years ago, Romania threatened to emerge as one of the dark horses of European football. They had several young talents all burst onto the scene at once, including centre-backs Florin Gardoș and Vlad Chiricheș, and creative midfielders Alexandru Maxim and Gabriel Torje -- a man rather optimistically dubbed the “Romanian Messi” in his days at Serie A side Udinese.

However, it turned out nothing more than a false dawn. Gardoș has been blighted by injury since joining Southampton last summer; Chiricheș’ big breakthrough at Tottenham Hotspur ended in him being passed off to Napoli after a couple of underwhelming years; Maxim’s still plying his trade at Bundesliga strugglers Stuttgart; and Messi’s now battling relegation a Turkish top flight newcomers Osmanlıspor.

So, Romania head into the European Championships as one of its weakest qualifiers. They scored only 11 goals in a poor qualifying group, and relied on impressive defensive performances to grind out points. When they come up against better opponents, they’re surely going to struggle.

Key player - Vlad Chiricheș

Assuming they’re going to play similarly negative football in France, they’re going to be relying on big performances from centre-back Vlad Chiricheș. He was a disappointment at Tottenham Hotspur, but Napoli certainly isn’t the worst place for him to have landed and attempt to rebuild what was once a thoroughly promising career. Chiricheș isn’t the biggest of defenders, but his agility and positional play often enables him to escape sticky situations. Against some of Europe’s finest attackers, he’s going to have to show Spurs what they’re missing.

Though they’re no longer the most puzzling owner of a top ten position in the FIFA rankings -- hello, Austria! -- the Swiss made their way through qualifying in relatively untroubled fashion, losing just once to any of the teams that they beat to second place in Group E. There’s a sprinkling of quality throughout the squad, particularly in midfield, where Xherdan Shaqiri, Gokhan Inler and Granit Xhaka form an experienced unit. They also have Juventus’ hyperactive wingback Stephan Lichtsteiner charging up and down the left flank. Still, they were comfortably beaten twice by England, which perhaps suggests that they aren’t really equipped to mix it with the more powerful European nations. The lack of a reliable goalscorer is another problem; though they scored 24 in their ten qualifying games, nobody managed more than Shaqiri, and he only picked up four. File under: will probably get out of the groups; will probably then get knocked out.

Key player: Xherdan Shaqiri

Touch of an angel, build of an oil rig, Shaqiri made a slow start to life at Stoke City. Perhaps that was just him coming to terms with the famous otherness of the Premier League; perhaps he was taking a while to come to terms with what looked, after Bayern Munich and Internazionale, like something of a backward step. But he’s started to get the hang of things now, and was revelatory in their recent deconstruction of Manchester City. At international level, he remains Switzerland’s focal point, both their most creative player and most likely goalscorer.

Albania are another side making their major tournament debuts in France, with the work of Italian coach Gianni De Biasi over the last four years having been richly rewarded. He’s created a very stubborn unit from a motley bunch of perennial also-rans, and has enjoyed his time so much that he took Albania up on their offer of citizenship earlier this year.

Admittedly, Albania were given a big helping hand in qualification, with the authorities awarding them three points in the aftermath of their abandoned game against Serbia. However, that shouldn’t take anything away from their thoroughly impressive transformation over the last few years, and they’ll arrive at the Euros as something of an unknown quantity.

They have a pleasing blend of youth and experience: the latter mostly comes courtesy of captain Lorik Cana, who has played in the top flight in England, Italy, France and Turkey; the former from the impressive tally of 12 players under 25 called up for the last round of international games. Anything other than a group stage exit would be a great achievement for Albania, though given their recent meteoric rise, it seems far from impossible.

Key player: Lorik Cana

Like all teams of their stature, Albania will need solid foundations if they’re to pull up trees at a major tournament. And that means needing big performances from centre-back Lorik Cana. The 32-year-old made his international debut over a decade ago, when the prospect of playing at a major tournament must have seemed ridiculous. However, in no small part down to his fine performances at the back, the Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate will captain his nation in France next summer, where his leadership and experience will be as important in a young squad as anything else.