Euro 2012 play-offs - new faces

The European Championships are often credited with being a stronger tournament that the World Cup. Without some of the filler from the other confederations, it's a chance for the 16 strongest teams in Europe to battle it out - the next tournament in 2016 will feature 24 teams.

But this week sees the first leg of the play-off round, with five of the eight participants not even existing (in their current guises) in the 1980s. Does this signal a shift in power to the former Eastern European nations? Or merely a sign that the bigger nations are struggling?

Croatia and Czech Republic both did well in their formative years, the Czechs reaching the final of Euro 96, with the Croats getting to the semi-finals of World Cup 98. But it's the other teams which have slowly made their way towards the top table.

Scotland celebrate a 0-0 draw against nobody

Estonia (independent since 1991) face the Republic of Ireland on Friday, seeking to qualify for their first tournament. They first appeared on the radar in Britain after their farcical tie with Scotland in 1996, where they failed to turn up, yet we given a replay and drew 0-0, with Scotland effectively scoring a 0-0 result against a team that didn't turn up. After coming second to Italy, they are 180 minutes from the finals, their path certainly taking a different trajectory from the Scots in recent years.

Also on Friday, Montenegro face the Czech Republic in an even swifter rise to prominence. Only declaring independence in 2006, they came second in the group including England, drawing both games against the English. They feature Serie A stars Mirko Vučinić (Juventus) and Stefan Jovetic (Fiorentina), but they are much greater than the sum of their parts and would give most of the big nations a good game.  Montenegro is also famous for being the setting of Casino Royale, so one imagines the UEFA bandwagon won't be far away...

David Luiz went to Florence and all he got was amnesia

The other newer nation in the play-offs are Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992), who were just minutes away from automatic qualification in their game in France. They also reached the play-offs for the 2010 World Cup, where they lost to Portugal. The most famous player being Edin Džeko of Man City, they again face Portugal for Euro 2012. After losing out by one point to the French, what price on them qualifying and playing them again in the tournament?

With some of the surprise winners of the tournament in the past (Greece, Denmark), what price on a winner from one of the new European nations? And of course, the possibility of recreating one of the greatest goals of all time... 

Not bad, I'm sure you'll agree...

You can follow Nelson's Column on Twitter and Facebook: www.twitter.com/nelsonscolumn_ and www.facebook.com/nelsoncolumn