Soccer’s European Championship kicks off this weekend. Here are 10 reasons to watch.

The European Championship is one of the biggest national team soccer tournaments beyond the World Cup, even though it features only European teams. Then again, plenty of people will tell you that’s what makes it such a big deal. Almost every one of the tournament’s 24 teams has big-time stars who draw fans from across the globe.

The Euros kicked off Friday with host country Germany facing Scotland. Games will be mostly easy to watch, because Fox has the English rights and Univision has the Spanish rights. Twenty-nine games will be on Fox’s main broadcast network (Fox29 in Philadelphia), and 17 will be on FS1.

But I said mostly for a reason: Fox sublicensed five games to streaming company FuboTV, and you have to buy Fubo’s full package that starts at $79.99 per month to get them. At least it will be cheap to watch in Spanish. Univision’s ViX streaming platform will have every game, and it costs just $4.99 a month ($6.99 without ads) with no long-term commitment needed. (The final will also be on big Univision and TUDN.)

Some games during the tournament will be available for free, including Friday’s Germany-Scotland opener (2 p.m., Fox29, ViX). The picks are made only a few days in advance, so check ViX.com along the way to find out what they are.

Click here for the full broadcast schedule, and read on for 10 reasons to tune in.

Dániel Gazdag of Hungary is the first active Union player to make a Euros roster in the club’s 15-year history. He would have earned the honor three years ago, because he joined the Union just before that tournament, but he missed it because of a minor injury in the Magyars’ training camp.

Now the 28-year-old attacking midfielder’s moment is finally here, and it could be quite a ride. Hungary is with Germany, Scotland, and Switzerland in Group A, which means a big test against the hosts, but the other games are winnable. And even with that, the top four third-place finishers across the tournament’s six groups qualify for the round of 16.

The Magyars’ other players to watch are goalkeeper Peter Gulácsi, centerback Willi Orbán, forward Roland Sallai, and above all midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai. The Liverpool dynamo, Szoboszlai, was first discovered as a teen prospect by current Union sporting director Ernst Tanner, and the two are still close.

Unfortunately, Hungary’s opener against Scotland (Saturday, 9 a.m.) is one of the games on FuboTV, so ViX will be the easiest way to watch. The group games after that are against Germany on Wednesday (noon, FS1, ViX) and Scotland on June 23 (3 p.m., FS1, ViX).

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Germany’s stadiums are as modern and fancy as you could want, with lots of bells and whistles alongside their great atmospheres. But two of them have incredible histories, too.

Six games will be played at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. They include the July 14 final, a July 6 quarterfinal, and a big-time group game between Spain and Croatia on Saturday (noon, Fox29, ViX).

First built for the 1936 Olympics, it was the place where Black American sprinting legend Jesse Owens won four gold medals with Adolf Hitler in the stands. It also hosted games at the 1974 men’s World Cup, and always hosts the German Cup final.

It got a huge modernization to host the 2006 men’s World Cup, including the final, and in 2011 it hosted the opening game of the women’s World Cup. But many historic touches are still there, especially on the outside walls.

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The other can’t-miss stadium is Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park. You’ll hear it called by its old name, the Westfalenstadion, during the Euros, because stadium sponsors’ names aren’t used during tournaments. (That will be the case in the U.S. during the 2026 World Cup, too.)

Borussia Dortmund, the club that plays there, has long had some of the best attendances and atmospheres anywhere in the world. You can be sure it will be raucous this summer too, with games including France-Poland on June 25, a round-of-16 game that could have Germany on June 29, and a semifinal on July 10.

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It’s been a while since Germany was a real title contender, but this year’s Mannschaft has two big-time young stars: 21-year-old midfield playmakers Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala.

If they can combine with forwards Kai Havertz and Niclas Fullkrüg to create goals, the home team will have a good chance at a deep run.

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When the Euros expanded from 16 to 24 teams in 2016, some old heads complained that it would let weaker teams into the tournament. But plenty of other people knew a 16-team field was too small to let almost any team in that hadn’t been a power for decades.

The underdogs have indeed had their day: Wales, Northern Ireland, and Albania in 2016, and Scotland and North Macedonia in 2021. Their successes, and even their valiant failures, led many critics to admit they were wrong.

This time, everyone will be talking about Georgia, and for good reason. It’s the nation’s first major tournament of any kind since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in the 1990s, and it’s got a superstar in winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. You might have seen him play for Italy’s Napoli in the Champions League and Serie A, where he helped the club end a 33-year title drought last year.

There’s also a player from MLS on Georgia’s squad, Atlanta United midfielder Saba Lobjanidze.

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You won’t find cooler veterans than Germany’s Toni Kroos, 34, and Croatia’s Luka Modrić, 38. They’re both visionary midfielders and exceptional passers, and they both just helped their club, Spanish superpower Real Madrid, win a record 15th Champions League title.

They also both know the time is coming to ride into the sunset, and this will be their last time with their national teams. Kroos will retire after the Euros, while Modrić will step down from the national team and play one more club season with Real. Savor them while you still can.

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Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is 39, and he doesn’t play for a big-time European club anymore. Instead, he’s cashing a fat paycheck at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr. But he said last month that he doesn’t plan to stop playing any time soon, and he uses his critics as motivation to keep at it.

If you’re new to this, know he’s got one of soccer’s biggest egos. If you’ve been around, you surely aren’t surprised.

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Lots of bars around town will have games on, with some hosting major viewing parties. Brauhaus Schmitz at 718 South St., for example, is a can’t-miss spot when Germany is playing.

But there’s something special around here when Italy takes the field. It will be especially true this summer, because the Azzurri are the reigning men’s European champions — even though they’ve failed to qualify for the last two World Cups.

The place to watch Italy games is Gran Caffè L’Aquila at 1716 Chestnut St. It gets packed for soccer at any time of year, and especially when Italy is playing.

I’ll confess it’s a personal favorite of mine, but it’s definitely not just mine. There’s a long history of Union players and visiting players hanging out there for pasta, gelato, afternoon coffee, and more.

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Twelve years ago, Spain capped off one of the all-time runs in international soccer history, winning the 2008 Euros, 2010 World Cup, and 2012 Euros. Then La Roja fell back a bit, but now a new crop of dynamic talents is making its mark.

This Euros squad has three 21-year-olds: midfielders Fermin López and Pedri and forward Nico Williams. Forward Lamine Yamal, just 16, is wildly talented. Rodri, 27, is perhaps the world’s best central midfielder, week in and week out with Manchester City.

And there’s one player left from those past titles, 38-year-old right back Jesús Navas, who was also on the Spain squad that won last year’s UEFA Nations League.

Was that the start of a new era of glory? We’ll start to find out when Spain opens against Croatia on Saturday (noon, Fox29, ViX), then plays Italy on June 20 (3 p.m., Fox29, ViX).

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A lot of people around here will root for England because of its Premier League stars. And a lot of people will root against them, because Philadelphia has a bit of a history there. (246 years of it, to be exact.)

But even haters must admit this Three Lions team is remarkably talented, and remarkably young. Twelve of the 26 players are age 25 or younger, including midfielders Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, and 19-year-old Kobbie Mainoo, and marquee wingers Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka.

Above all, there’s midfielder Jude Bellingham. The 20-year-old just finished his first season with Real Madrid, and was utterly dominant: 23 goals, 13 assists, Champions League and La Liga titles, and La Liga’s player of the year award.

It sticks in England fans’ craws that their men haven’t won a major trophy since 1966, especially after a surprising run to the last Euros final in 2021. A year later, England’s women showed how it’s done by winning their Euros on home soil.

Will 58 years of hurt end this summer? This team might have the best chance yet.

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There are a lot of good squads in these Euros, but only one is unquestionably great.

Les Bleus have experience in midfielder N’Golo Kanté and forwards Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud, who will join Los Angeles FC after the tournament. They have electrifying youngsters in 21-year-old winger Bradley Barcola and 18-year-old midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery. They have depth at every position on the field. They have gorgeous jerseys.

And they have the sport’s new biggest superstar, with all due respect to Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Kylian Mbappé is the guy, and he knows it. So does his team, his country, and I can keep going but this piece is already long enough.

After the tournament Mbappé will join Real Madrid, the club he’s dreamed of playing for since his childhood in the Paris suburbs. First, he has some business to take care of. Though France won the 2018 World Cup and finished runner-up in 2022, it crashed out of the last Euros early and didn’t make the final four of last year’s Nations League.

This year’s final happens to fall on July 14, France’s biggest holiday. They’ll be ready on the Champs-Elysées in Paris like they always are — not just for Bastille Day, but for the party that always breaks out there when France wins a title.

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