Footie for the next month

Like it or not, for the next month or so, football is upon us. How well do you think Spain will do? Do you think the drought will end and they will finally lift the European Championship cup once more?

Unfortunately Scotland isn't being represented at the Championship; the only consolation is that England isn't there either!

Scotland were unlucky not to qualify - we had the World Champions Italy and runners-up France in our qualifying group.

We beat France, one - nil, at both the home and away games.

We just needed to draw against Italy in the last, all-important match. We were holding them to a one - all draw into injury time, when Italy were awarded a free-kick that they should never have got.

An Italian player clearly fouled a Scots one, but the ref gave the free-kick to the Italian side. I wouldn't be surprised if the Italians had bribed him.

The Italian player involved in the tackle dived. The Italians are noted for their unfair play and unsportsmanship like conduct. What a bunch of cheats!

You can only imagine how Scots hearts sunk when the Italians scored the winning goal from the free-kick. Once again, so near but yet so far.

Had the ref not made the wrong decision, Scotland too would be in these Championships alongside Spain.


Would you like to learn some more football-related vocabulary? Then have a read of this BBC Learning English page and then try the fun quizzes and games.


Can you remember any important matches involving Spain or the team that you support? What happened? Were there any controversial decisions?

Maybe you can't stand all this football but you can have an opinion on some related topic such as:

Do you think football players are paid too much?

Should we expect players to behave on and off the pitch?

Isn't the cost of football strips outrageous?

Which player do you admire most?

What do you think of the current Spanish coach?

Who are the best looking players in these Championships?




We didn't deserve to lose. Italians are also the World Champions at cheating. We were robbed!




Our first victory over France in France in 50 years; with an incredible goal!

Have a listen to the commentary. Do you understand any of it?