Betting begins for the UEFA European Football Championship 2012

Already the UEFA European Football Championship has formed a following of gambling patrons. The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, otherwise known as Euro 2012 is the 14th European Championship for national football teams which have been sanctioned by the Union of European Football Associations.

Between the 8th June and 1st July 2012 the finals will be taking place in Poland and the Ukraine, this is the final championship in which there will only be 16 countries participating. From 2016 there will be 24 nations taking part. The qualifying rounds will be taking place between September and November 2011.

Spain is now the favourite to win Euro 2012 having beaten the Netherlands to win the 2010 World Cup. Online bookmakers have already begun offering odds and giving punters guides to how odds work for qualifying teams.

Since the tournament began, Germany has won three times in 1972, 80 and 96. Spain has won twice in 1964 and 2008, France has also won twice in 1964 and 2000.

The highest goal scorer at the tournament is Michal Platini, he is now the head of the Union of European Football Associations, but when he played for France he was a heavy goal scorer.

UEFA has taken a lot of care to avoid any corruption in the tournament and hold frequent talks to monitor the situation. The UEFA disciplinary inspector Karl Dhont spoke to the players at this year’s UEFA European Under 17 Championship as part of their efforts to remove corruption, the aim is to raise awareness in young players and let them know that their future careers could be at stake.