NEW DELHI: The 15th Edition of UEFA European Championship will commence from June 10 and this time France is all set to host this tournament. The matches will be played in ten cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne and Toulouse. It will be the third time that France hosts the tournament, after the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals. The French team have won the European Championship twice in 1984 and 2000.

Although the preparations are on full swing, the path does not seems to be easy for the host as the rail and oil refineries workers have launched a Nationwide Protest in response to their huge dissatisfaction with labour reforms followed by the threats from terrorist organisation the Islamic State which has roused security concerns. France, which is in a state of Emergency since November 2015, is apparently ensuring that there won’t be any lapses in security.

Explosions near the Stade de France stadium killed three people and left several more injured during the international friendly match between France and Germany last year. The Stade de France was at the heart of a series of coordinated terror attacks in Paris which left 129 dead and the security agencies does not want such incident to repeat. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks saying that it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq. The French Government has planned to declare no fly zone over all 10 stadiums as well as the 24 training ground and has promised to fix all other lapses.

As the country's leading labour union announced its plans to launch a Nationwide protest during the Euro Cup the situation is expected to get worse . The workers of Paris Metro have also announced to strike during the tournament, Metro which is among the leading transport carrier in Paris if gets on a strike has the capability to put France to a halt. Although the Government appealed the union to give up protest during the tournament as it can affect the government image but the union is no mood to back step till their demands are heard.

With a few days left in the commencement of the Euro Cup all 24 teams are geared up to bring in their best performance and clinch the much decorated title. For the first time, the European Championship final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since 1996. France which is hosting the tournament has high expectations from their team and want the France football team to clinch the title for the third time as the winning team earns the right to compete at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Russia.

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SAGAR MAHINDRA