The battle to become European Champions commences this month but before a ball is kicked in anger there's another battle underway. EURO 2016 is about to take the summer by storm and for businesses that equals eyeballs, money and a marketing opportunity like no other. So who comes out on top of the tournament ad game? You decide.
Official sponsors, gambling firms and beer companies are the usual suspects when it comes to a major international tournament campaign, and that pattern repeats itself here. So without further ado, here's the best EURO 2016 TV adverts. Call out you winners, call out your losers.
Lufthansa - German airline Lufthansa mock England's failure to launch at tournaments when their own team fly high every two years. When a couple of England fans have their flight switched to Lufthansa it all gets a bit German for the England contingent. We're talking Gareth Southgate's penalty miss on an eternal loop German. They're forgetting we've got Jamie Vardy this year and you know what happens to people that chat sh*t when that man is around.
Paddy Power - Notorious banter bookies Paddy Power come up trumps once again with an ad that sees a Scottish rendition of Fat Les's Vindaloo England song. With Scotland's Euro 2016 invite lost in the post, Paddy Power are urging the people north of the border to get involved in the tournament by betting on all the other home nations to lose. To be fair, that'll probably earn them a few quid.
Carlsberg - You know that middle aged man that's had a few too many down your local pub after watching England scrape to a 1-0 victory at home to some unqualified nation and starts shouting to everyone that this is our year? Yeah, that's pretty much the Carlsberg Euro 2016 advert. Ctrl+C for World Cup 2018.
Hyundai - Taking a more serious approach to the tournament, Hyundai pull on the heart strings with a film that features a young boy trying to save up to go to Euro 2016. We'll overlook the fact his parents leave him unattended for 90% of the ad and just say awww, just like we're supposed to.
Mars - Mars have upset the Welsh so much so that the land of Bale are talking about a Mars Bar boycott throughout Euro 2016. Sh*t just got serious. From an English point-of-view it's a belter. Dodgy French accents and a bunch of England fans swimming the channel to get to Euro 2016. Anything to avoid a Lufthansa flight, right?
ITV - Getting Eric Cantona involved guarantees you a decent football advert. ITV's Euro 2016 film titled 'Lucky' isn't as powerful as previous years but a solid all round effort nonetheless. It also features a very serious looking Spanish dog, which is fine by us.
BBC - If the BBC advert provides nothing other than proof that Jermaine Jenas is still alive and well then we're happy with that.
Three Ireland - If anyone knows how to party it's the Irish. Fans of everyone's second favourite nation will no doubt travel in numbers to France to watch Robbie Keane win his 956th cap for the boys in green. Whether they'll remember any of it by the time they return to Dublin isn't important.
Volvo - If Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a car, there's no chance in hell he'd be a Volvo, he'd be a sports car with ferocious power and unpredictable handling. Gareth Barry would be a Volvo. But Gareth Barry isn't Swedish so this one is left to the big man.
BBC Wales - Understandably there's huge excitement in Wales ahead of Euro 2016 and the BBC have captured that as they dare to dream. And why shouldn't they dream? They've got Hal Robson-Kanu and Simon Church up top. Nice video and not a Mars Bar in sight.
Bonus video: Here's Carlos Tevez dancing for Cartoon Network, because sometimes life is a bit weird.
Want some more? See every Nike international tournament ad right here.
