In Europe soccer (or football, as it’s called) is the biggest and most popular sport.

The UEFA men’s football European championship takes place only every four years.

This year it’s up again! The event unfolds in France from June 10 to July 10, 2016. 24 are  teams playing in 51 matches in 10 venues across France. After the recent terrorist attacks in France safety is a big issue.

On Saturday June 25, at 3pm the Swiss (in red) and the Polish (in white) football team met for the game in Saint Etienne. There were around 20’000 Swiss fans attending the game and a huge crowd of polish supporters as well.

In the first half the Polish team scored their first goal. The Swiss team got better and better and scored an excellent goal at the 82nd minute. The Polish team started wearing out as the Swiss kept pushing for more shots. As the game finished with a tie of 1:1, a penalty shootout had to break the tie and show who would go on to the quarter finals. The Swiss missed one shot and lost the game. Great disappointment hit the Swiss fans. The Swiss were definitely a better team but lost at the shootout. So the Swiss are out now and the games will go on without them.

However many Swiss at home or in one of the many public viewing platforms will happily continue watching the rest of the games. For many this one of the big events of 2016!