Is Portugal's Euro 2020 group the hardest of all time? A look back at some of the infamous 'groups of death'

With Hungary’s late comeback against Iceland comes the completion of Portugal’s group at next summer’s delayed Euro 2020 - arguably the most difficult group in all of major tournament history.

Alongside Hungary, Portugal will have to face reigning world champions France and 2014 World Cup winners Germany in a bid to defend their European crown.

Not only that, but the match against Germany will be played in the country’s capital of Munich - while the fixture with Hungary, on paper the easiest game in the group, will have to be played in Budapest - the capital of Hungary.

With two away fixtures, one of which will be against one of the heavyweights of world football, alongside a reunion between the two finalists from Euro 2016 ensures that this Portugal group may well be the most challenging in the history of the sport.

To assess the accuracy of that statement, here we take a look back at some of the most difficult international groups of all time, and see how they compare with Portugal’s latest draw:

Euro 2012: Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Denmark

As you can see, Portugal are familiar with challenging groups, their Euro 2012 draw arguably even more difficult than their most recent one.

Netherlands, after their run to the World Cup final only two years prior, were the pot 1 side, a much-feared outfit, even more so than today, while Germany, perennial contenders for major tournament success, were the highest ranked pot 2 side. Portugal then came from the third pot, while Denmark, the highest ranked outfit of the bottom four teams in the seedings, completed the group.

Unsurprisingly, it proved to be a huge challenge for Portugal, all three of their matches incredibly competitive, with every game in the entire group decided by just a one-goal margin. An expected opening day defeat to Germany meant Portugal had it all to do in their final two fixtures - and to add another spanner to the works, against the odds Denmark also defeated the Netherlands in the other opening round fixture.

Portugal’s group only got more complicated as a result of that, making their meeting with Denmark in the following game even more crucial. It proved to be a five-goal thriller, Portugal going 2-0 up in the first half before a Bendtner double pegged them back by the 80th minute. A late Varela goal was all that sealed a massive three points for Portugal, as Germany overcame the Netherlands 2-1 in Kharkiv.

With the Netherlands needing victory in their last game of the group phase to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stage, Portugal’s final fixture, a rematch of the infamous Battle of Nuremberg of 2006, was set to be even more challenging than already expected, and after falling behind early on, things were looking very precarious for Portugal.

They managed to get back into the game quickly though through Cristiano Ronaldo, before a 74th minute second from the talisman ensured Portugal’s victory and safe passage through to the quarter finals in 2nd place. But while their 6 points from 3 games makes the group look comfortable, it certainly proved to be far from that as all four sides made proceedings as competitive as expected.

Euro 2000: Germany, Romania, Portugal, England

Yet another challenging group was given to Portugal in 2000, containing Euro 1996 champions Germany alongside an England side who, despite not being at their best and only being placed in pot 4, reached the semi-finals four years earlier.

Meanwhile, Romania, despite in the present day likely being seen as the weakest side in this group by quite some margin, were actually the pot 2 team at Euro 2000, having topped their qualification table - which contained Portugal - without losing a match.

And though Portugal actually won all three group matches at the tournament proper in the end, fans of the Selecao will recall that it was far more challenging than the table would suggest, trailing 2-0 to England after just 18 minutes in the opening fixture, before a stunning comeback to win 3-2.

In the following match, Romania proved incredibly difficult to overcome, and with the scoreline 0-0 going into stoppage time, it was only a 94th minute effort from Costinha that managed to get Portugal across the line, seeing them qualify for the quarter final with one game remaining, which they won surprisingly comfortably against Germany thanks to a Sergio Conceicao hattrick.

It was then Romania who, surprisingly, scraped into the quarter-finals alongside Portugal, accumulating 4 points after a draw with Germany and a dramatic 3-2 victory over England on the final day thanks to an 89th minute penalty. Germany picked up just a solitary point in a group full of drama.

Euro 2008: Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France

Netherlands are also no strangers to difficult groups, having had to endure back-to-back ‘Groups of Death’ at the Euros in 2008 and 2012 - despite being in pot 1 on both occasions.

This group is undoubtedly one of the most difficult in tournament history, including reigning World Cup winners Italy and World Cup finalists France alongside a Romania side that actually finished above the Netherlands in their qualifying group with an impressive 29 points from 12 games.

And the group proved even more competitive than many may have expected, with Romania putting on some immense showings to pick up 2 points despite being the heavy underdogs, drawing against both France and Italy, and finishing above the former as a result.

The Netherlands flew into the quarter finals, winning all three of their games convincingly with a +8 goal difference, but Italy only narrowly progressed ahead of Romania as France were embarrassed, their 0-0 draw with Romania on the opening day earning them their only point of the campaign.

World Cup 2014: Uruguay, England, Italy, Costa Rica

In what was arguably one of the toughest draws in World Cup history, three former world champions were drawn alongside each other, with Uruguay, Italy and England, ranked 6th, 9th and 10th in the FIFA world rankings when the draw was made, all pitted against each other.

It proved to be even more enthralling than anticipated, with the widely-regarded underdogs of the group, Costa Rica, proving to be an incredibly accomplished outfit, earning impressive victories over heavy favourites Uruguay and Italy before drawing against England on the final day to not only qualify for the knockout stages, but claim top spot too.

England ended up finishing bottom of the group, defeats to both Italy and Uruguay in close battles ensuring they were out of the fight for qualification to the round of 16 before the final round of group stage matches were even underway.

Instead, the fight for 2nd in the group came down to Uruguay and Italy, and a victory for the former over the 2006 champions on the final day ensured they joined Costa Rica in the knockout phase.

World Cup 2006: Argentina, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Serbia and Montenegro

Though this group did perhaps contain two relatively clear favourites in Argentina and the Netherlands, Ivory Coast, as the African Cup of Nations runners-up only a matter of months earlier, and Serbia and Montenegro, having not lost a game in their qualifying campaign as they finished above Spain and only conceded 1 goal across their 10 matches, were two highly accomplished sides that were sure to put up a fight.

In the end, Argentina and the Netherlands did qualify as expected, with 7 points apiece, while Ivory Coast clinched 3rd after beating Serbia and Montenegro.

World Cup 1994: Italy, Republic of Ireland, Mexico, Norway

Though this may not look like much of a Group of Death today, in 1994, it proved to be an incredibly tight battle. Mexico were the 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup champions, Italy came 3rd in the previous World Cup while Ireland reached the quarter finals, and Norway qualified for the global tournament from an exceptionally competitive group as winners ahead of the Netherlands, England, Poland and Turkey.

It was not so much a group of death due to the stature of the four sides, but rather due to how evenly matched they all were, and that proved to be the case. Indeed, the group went down in history as the tightest ever witnessed, finishing almost comically close. All four nations finished with the same record - one win, one draw, one defeat, and therefore 4 points apiece. They also all finished on the same goal difference - 0. It could not have been any closer.

With Norway only scoring one goal in the tournament, they were eliminated by the slimmest of margins, Mexico topping the group thanks to their ability to find the back of the net on three occasions.

Euro 2020: France, Germany, Portugal, Hungary.

So then, how does this group compare with the others? With away disadvantage in not just one, but two games, from a Portuguese perspective you could make a case that this is the hardest group in history. And though Hungary are clearly the weaker side overall, that two of their three games will be played in Budapest undoubtedly helps their chances considerably.

What makes the competitiveness of this group even more surprising is that the competition has been expanded to 24 teams - nobody really expected ‘group of deaths’ to be so prominent in the competition after its expansion, with 8 so-called ‘weaker’ sides also earning a berth in the tournament, yet still this group transpired.

It’s sure to be an epic battle as Portugal aim to become just the second nation in history to win back-to-back European Championships.

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