UEFA have done us all a favour with their latest Euro 2016 trick.
This week they’ve released a guide to pronouncing some of the most difficult names of players who will be featuring at the tournament.
It’s an excellent little package to bring football fans around Europe together, helping us all understand each other.
It’s also shown us that we’ve been butchering a few players’ names completely wrong for years. Because while Champions League and many, many games FIFA have sorted us around some of the big tongue twisters in world football today (Dortmund’s creative duo of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan took a while), there are a few big players whose names we need to master.
The full guide with pronunciation tips for English speakers can be found here. Here’s our look at a few player names you may want to remember as Euro 2016 progresses.
Michy Batshuayi – Belgium
The Belgium striker is reportedly a Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham target this summer. Londoners, get pronouncing that name right.
Correct pronunciation: Bat-shoe-a-yi
Milan Badelj – Croatia
Once linked to Tottenham, Milan Badelj will be one part of what is a stellar Croatian midfield. Dark horses for the tournament? Perhaps.
Correct pronunciation: Bad-el-ee
Šime Vrsaljko – Croatia
Vrsaljko is a flying fullback who many are dubbing the next Darijo Srna. Capable on both the left and right sides of defence, as well as in midfield, expect him to be linked to Liverpool by the Euros end.
Correct pronunciation: Shi-may Ver-sal-ee-ko
Benedikt Höwedes – Germany
At 28 years of age, Höwedes is the elder statesmen of the German defence. Depending on Hummels’ fitness at the tournament, he could play a big part of Die Mannschaft’s quest for a fourth Euros title.
Correct pronunciation: Hoe-ve-des
Blerim Džemaili – Switzerland
Galatasaray (currently on loan at Genoa) midfielder will Blerim Džemaili will provide the battery of the Swiss team with his box-to-box runs.
Correct pronunciation: Je-my-lee
Jakub Błaszczykowski – Poland
There was a time when Borussia Dortmund had one of the most tongue twisting teams in Europe. For every long surname that went out (why did you do it Lewandowski?), a new one came to replace him (oh hi Aubameyang).
Polish full back Błaszczykowski may be on loan at Fiorentina now, but expect big things from him if Poland get out of what is a manageable group
Correct pronunciation: Ya-koob Blash-chi-kov-ski
Grzegorz Krychowiak – Poland
The Sevilla defensive midfielder was linked to Arsenal for ages. Would a good Euros see him arrive at another Premier League club?
Correct pronunciation: G-ze-gosh Cri-ho-viack
Yevhen Konoplyanka – Urkaine
We’re still not sure what happened to Konoplyanka and his rumoured move to Liverpool. Maybe a good tournament could convince Klopp to go back for him?
Correct pronunciation: Ye-ven Ko-no-pley-ang-ka
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk – Ukraine
The former Bayern man is now plying his trade in the Kazakhstan Professional Football League. Now aged 37, this is sure to be his final appearance with the Ukraine national team.
Correct pronunciation: Ana-to-lee Ti-mo-sh-chuk
