Ah Europe. A glorious continent filled with windmills, cities, mountainous ranges, and people trying to remove that so called “gimmick” meme that was casted by those darn Yankees.

If the EURO 2016 football cup has filled your heart with all that pride, then be ready to show your colors in TF2 as well, as the ETF2L Nations Cup is here! And after two years, it’s returning to it’s roots with good old 6v6. With so much stuff going on, we've compiled a viewer's guide to keep you on track throughout the summer-long cup.

kaidus will be leading England in the Nations Cup (picture by Austen "tagg" Wade)

Format

Taking place throughout the hot summer, the Nations Cup will kick off with a group stage, where thirty-two countries will be split into groups of four. In each group, the teams will play each other in a fixture of two maps, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage.

After the group stage, the remaining sixteen teams will be placed in a single-elimination bracket, where they’ll attempt to climb their way up the Alps and claim their spot on the throne as the best team in Europe (the throne comes with free bratwurst!).

Be wary of shock tactics (picture by Epsilon eSports)

Map Pool

The group stage will have fixed maps for each match. The map fixtures are:

Round 1: Badlands & Gullywash

Round 2: Gullywash & Process

Round 3: Process & Badlands

The knockout stage however will allow teams to pick and ban maps from the ETF2L Season 24 map pool for each fixture. The map pool is:

Badlands

Snakewater

Process

Product

Reckoner

Gullywash

Granary Pro

Barrels of fun! (or death) (picture by Austen "tagg" Wade)

Teams

Thirty-two countries will be charging into the heat of battle in the Nations Cup. The countries and captains for the Nations Cup will be:

Austria (basti)

Bulgaria (tim.)

Croatia (Van Darkholme)

Czech Republic (degu)

Denmark (Dr. Phil)

England (kaidus)

Estonia (Hei)

Finland (Cauthon)

France (Medico)

Georgia (Blinky)

Germany (schocky)

Hungary (Luigi)

Iceland (cmd)

Ireland (Crayon)

Israel (JackyLegs)

Italy (pierzzz-)

Latvia (walters)

Lithuania (NeuTronas)

Netherlands (TimTum)

Norway (fishyard)

Poland (Graba)

Portugal (Kiler4fun)

Romania (Shampoo)

Russia (Eniere)

Scotland (sheepy dog's hand)

Slovakia (adysky)

Slovenia (Jan)

Spain (So||o Wo|o)

Sweden (alle)

Switzerland (HartzFartz)

Ukraine (Ihor)

Wales (Funs)

Schedule

The ETF2L Nations Cup starts with the group stage on July 20th, and will end with the Grand Finals around the end of August/the beginning of September. The schedule is as follows:

Group Stage:

July 20th - 24th: Group Stage Round 1

July 25th - 27th: Group Stage Round 2

July 28th - August 1st: Group Stage Round 3

August 2nd - 4th: Tiebreakers

Playoffs:

August 7th - 10th: Round of 16

August 11th - 16th: Quarter Finals

August 17th - 22nd: Semi Finals

August 23rd - 24th / August 31st - September 1st: Grand Finals

Note: Grand Finals schedule has been adjusted due to Insomnia 58 conflicting with the Grand Finals week (August 26th - August 29th)

Conclusion

It's a Euphoria Free for All! Be sure to cheer for your favorite country as they prepare to battle for the title of best country in Europe!