The European Championships are not far behind the World Cup in terms of prestige, especially as many of the top European teams usually feature at the business end of both tournaments. Euro 2004 in Portugal was a great tournament for bookmakers, with 150/1 outsiders Greece triumphing against the hosts in the final, do you know anyone who backed the Greeks?

What 2004 demonstrated is that, unlike the World Cup, there’s more chance of a ‘shock’ taking place and that we shouldn’t disregard any of the 16 teams competing at the finals stage. As hosts, Austria and Switzerland automatically qualify for Euro 2008 but the other 14 teams will have had to finish in the top two places of a tough qualifying group to make it through – not an easy feat as England can testify!

As you might expect, the same old names currently dominate the outright betting with Germany, Italy, France and Holland heading the market at around the 7/1 mark. You then have teams such as England (always under-priced due to patriotic money), Portugal and Spain in the betting although you might argue that these seven teams are simply the default choice for bookmaker lists and that, as punters, we shouldn’t be afraid of considering some of the bigger prices available.

For example, a team like Croatia look likely to qualify for the 2008 finals and have demonstrated their quality by outplaying England already. However, they currently hover around the 25/1 mark. The same could be said for Turkey, quoted with some firms at 50/1. When you consider the example of Greece in 2004 and the fact that Tottenham Hotspur are 66/1 to win the league with some firms, it’s advisable to ignore the obvious and grab some of the value instead!