Euro 2016: 4 teams that benefited from the expanded format of the tournament

4) The Republic of Ireland

Ireland made it to the knockout stages of the Euros for the first time in their history

At one stage during the Euro qualifiers, the Irish were fourth in their group and were staring at a failed qualifying campaign before they won three of their last four games which included a win against Germany to qualify for the playoffs where they surprisingly beat a resurgent Bosnia and Herzegovina to qualify for their second successive Euros.

In the final tournament, Republic of Ireland were placed in the Group of Death which comprised of Italy, Belgium and Sweden. However, they had a decent outing in the group stages as they beat Italy 1-0 and drew against Sweden to end their group in third position and qualified for the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed teams.

In their round of 16 match against France, Ireland had taken the lead in the 2nd minute and were able to keep the French at bay for almost an hour before Antoine Griezmann struck twice to snatch the game away from Ireland.

Euro 2016 was Ireland’s best performance at the European Championship as they went past the group stages for the first time ever and they will be looking to put up a similar showing at the World Cup qualifiers.