But for football fans in Britain, the big question has been who to support.

This is because England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all failed to qualify .

Even though there will be no British players taking part, there will be no shortage  of familiar faces  from the English Premier League representing their home countries.

Manchester United fans will be keeping an eye on  Cristiano Ronaldo, as he aims to bring glory to the skilful  Portgual.

Then we have Liverpool's Fernando Torres, who hopes to help bring long-awaited  success to perennial underachievers  Spain.

And Chelsea's Michael Ballack could help tournament favourites  Germany succeed. He said his Premier League experience has "improved him as a footballer."

He is the captain  of a hotly-tipped  German side, who have already started their campaign with a victory , as have Portugal, Croatia and the Czech Republic in the other opening games of the group stages .

The Germans performed well in a 2-0 victory over Poland, but for double goalscorer Lukas Podolski the win was bittersweet .

Podolski was born in Poland but moved to Germany at the age of two, and many of his family still live in Poland. He said, "I have two hearts ¨C a German one and a Polish one."

German coach Joachim Low was also keen to stay realistic, despite the opening win. When he said "we've got to stay down to earth", he means his team have to remain focused on each game and not expect victory to come too easily.

Of course there are other contenders  apart from Germany. Italy, France, Portugal, Holland and Spain are all seen having a good chance of winning.

But other teams should take heart  from the knowledge that this is also the tournament of the underdog . Both Greece and Denmark surprised many by winning the tournament in recent years.