Roy’s rug-rats or Martin’s middle-aged brigade?
All 24 countries have now submitted their Euro 2016 squads so it is time for a good gawk at the players who made the cut.
There are more Derby County players (4) at #euro2016 than from Inter, Milan, Lyon and Benfica.
— Jonny Blain (@jonoblain) June 1, 2016
Juventus and Liverpool are the two best represented club sides at this summer’s championships, with 12 players apiece expecting to see action.
One of the most interesting results is that of the tournament’s oldest and youngest squads.
The youngest 23-man squad taking part is Roy Hodgson’s England – the average age is 25 years, 308 days. England have the youngest player in 18-year-old Marcus Rashford while Portugal’s Renato Sanches is two months his senior.
The next youngest squad is that of Germany, who also come in a few days short of that 26 year mark. As for the oldest squad?
Ireland will have the oldest squad at Euro 2016, with an average age of 29 years & 297 days
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) June 1, 2016
That’s right, Martin O’Neill has assembled the most… mature group of players that will go for glory in France.
That average could well have been bumped up further had David Forde [36] or Kevin Doyle [32] made the cut. 40-year-old Shay is Ireland’s oldest player but he falls 19 days short of Hungary’s veteran goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly for Euro 2016’s eldest statesman.
518 caps in the England squad.
971 in Republic of Ireland squad.
Will that prove key?https://t.co/m3NIFIneXc pic.twitter.com/WUNOdqiMKl
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 31, 2016
As the above tweet demonstrates, Ireland are heading to France stacked with caps. The squad will explode past the 1,000-cap mark when the first whistle is blown for their second group match against Belgium on June 18.
