"Austria is in
for a Surprise"

Five PUMA teams will take on the challenge in the Euro 2016 in France with five very different starting positions. Whether we talk about tournament favorites, secret bets or complete newcomers, we can look forward to the games with the typical confidence that distinguishes PUMA from the rest of the market.

With some stunning performances over the last 18 months, PUMA’s European national teams have directly qualified for the EURO 2016 in France. This impressive success was far from being a piece of cake, taking into account that Nike, which in sales about nine times bigger than we are, equips six teams in the EURO.

Italy, the team with the richest football tradition and four World Cups in their pockets, are looking to accomplish their second EURO win. The ‘Gli Azzurri’ completed the qualification round without being defeated once. PUMA goalie Gianluigi Buffon, who will be in his last EURO, is currently on top of his game at the age of 38. He will work on his status as Italy’s record player with 156 international matches and as only remaining member of the World Cup winning team of 2006.

But not to forget the smaller nations, who made the biggest impressions in the recent past: Slovakia awaits its first ever EURO participation after concluding their group in the qualifiers only behind Spain. The Czech Republic, with team captain and Arsenal player Tomáš Rosický, topped their group and secured their EURO participation after just eight games, stepping in the historic footprint of the Czech national team of 1996: 20 years ago the Czechs sensationally made it to the final in their first ever EURO participation, only to lose against Germany in over-time.

The Swiss team with popular PUMA player Stephan Lichtsteiner finished as second in their group. However, Austria, that hadn’t managed to qualify for the EURO since 1964 (apart from 2008, when they hosted the event), stood out the most. In fact, they were the first team to qualify for the EURO 2016, with 28 out of 30 points possible – a new peak in the long-lasting partnership between PUMA and Austria, which was one of the first national teams ever to feature the cat on the jersey. “We have equipped them since the time teams started wearing branded products, so Austria has basically always played in PUMA”, Johan said. He thinks Austria stands a good chance in the upcoming competition. “They have a young team with pretty interesting players like David Alaba or Marko Arnautovic. The great work of the federation is now starting to pay off and I think they are in for a surprise.”