The 2016 European Championships are due to take place in France from 10 June to July. Spain are the two-time reigning champions heading in to the tournament, which has been increased from 16 to 24 teams for the first time.

England manager Roy Hodgson guided the Three Lions to the quarter finals of the last European championship in 2012, and will be hoping to take his promising young team even further this time around.

Ahead of the start of this years tournament, heres everything you need to know about Euro 2016.

The hosts

France was selected to host the tournament in 2010, after beating rival bids from Italy and Turkey. This will be the third time the country has hosted the tournament, after the inaugural tournament in 1960 and the 1984 finals.

The matches will be played in 10 stadiums in 10 cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Étienne, and Toulouse.

The teams

For the first time the tournament has been expanded from 16 to 24 teams. As well as England, hosts France, reigning European champions Spain and reigning World Cup champions Germany, five nations will be making their debut at a European championship: Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales.

The format

The 24 nations involved have been placed into six groups of four like so:

Group winners, runners-up, and best four third-placed teams advance to the Round of 16. From then on it is a straight knockout competition to decide the winner.

The Three Lions

England have never won a European Championship, with the closest they have come being the semi-finals in 1968 and 1996.

Their three matches in the Group B are as follows:

England vs Russia

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
21:00, 11 June

England vs Wales

Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens
15:00, 16 June

England vs Slovakia

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
21:00, 20 June

The 23-man squad Roy Hodgson has selected for the tournament is as follows:

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart (Manchester City), Fraser Forster (Southampton), Tom Heaton (Burnley).

Defenders

Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), John Stones (Everton), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool).

Midfielders

Dele Alli (Tottenham), Ross Barkley (Everton), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).

Forwards

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United).

The favourites

Hosts France are the current favourites for the tournament, according to Oddschecker. Les Bleus have a dynamic side featuring the explosive talents of Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet. They also won the last time they hosted the tournament in 1984.

After France, the four next favourites are Germany, Spain, England and Belgium, with the Three Lions having odds of 17/2 with Coral and Bet365.

As for top goalscorer, Germanys Thomas Muller is the current favourite to pick up thew Golden Boot, with Portugals Cristiano Ronaldo, Frances Antoine Griezmann, Englands Harry Kane and Polands Robert Lewandowski also expected to find the net often during the championships.

The kick off

The tournament kicks off with hosts France playing Romania at the Stade de France at 9pm on 10 June.