Accents on vowels and consonants can panic nervous English speakers, but Czech names generally aren't as complicated as they look. Acute accents extend the vowel (so á = aah in English) while an 'š' is a 'sh', and a 'č' is a 'ch'.

Antonín Barák – Anto-neen Ba-rark

Václav Černy – Vart-slav Chair-knee

Tomáš Chorý – Tomash Khory

Martin Hašek – Ha-sheck

Michal Hubínek – Mick-al Hoo-bee-neck

Jakub Jankto – Ya-coob Yank-toh

Lukáš Juliš – Loo-carsh Yoo-lish

Filip Kaša – Ca-sha

Patrik Macej – Mat-say

Aleš Matějů – Alesh Mat-ay-oo

Michal Sáček – Sah-check

Petr Ševčík – Pet-r Shev-cheek

Stefan Simič – Sim-itch

Tomáš Souček – So-check

Michal Trávník – Trarv-neek

Luděk Vejmola – Loo-dyek Vey-moll-a

Lukáš Zima – Loo-carsh

Patrick 'Bawn-gor' (left) ©FRF

The politeness of generations of Nordic players in the United Kingdom has led to their names being badly pronounced in the English-speaking world. Crucially, the Danish 'g' has little in common with the hard English 'g', and Danish also has fewer sharp edges than there may seem on paper.

Patrick Bangaard – Bawn-gor

Jakob Blåbjerg – Blo-bee-air

Fredrik Børsting – Bursting

Mikkel Duelund – Doo-lun

Thomas Hagelskjær – Hail-ski-air

Andrew Hjulsager – Yool-sayer

Jeppe Højbjerg – Yeppee Hoy-bee-air

Kasper Junker – Yunker

Andreas Maxsø – Mark-sue

Christian Nørgaard – Nyar-gor

Most should be fairly easy for native English speakers, but just in case ...

Nathaniel Chalobah – Challow-bar

Demarai Gray – Demmer-eye

Dominic Iorfa – Eye-or-fa

'Key-reh' Markoski ©FFM

Usually written in Cyrillic script, Macedonian names have been transcribed phonetically so should sound like they appear on paper. Worth remembering, though, that the 'j' is a soft one, more akin to an English 'y'.

Aleksa Amanovic – Amano-vitch

Egzon Bejtulai – Bey-too-lie

Eljif Elmas – El-yif

Nikola Gjorgjev – George-yev

Filip Ilic – Ill-itch

Kire Markoski – Key-reh

Gjoko Zajkov – Sigh-kov

As with the Nordic languages, English speakers tend to think they know how to pronounce German better than they do. In general terms an umlaut is the approximate equivalent for English speakers of adding an extra 'e' to a vowel; 'ä' is more like 'ae', 'ö' and 'ü' are almost like 'er'.

Thilo Kehrer – Tee-lo Key-rer

Lukas Klünter – Kloon-ter

Levin Öztunali – Leh-vin Erz-toon-ali

Marvin Schwäbe – Sh-fay-buh

Jeremy Toljan – Tol-yan

Enrico 'Ki-yays-a' ©Getty Images

The confusing bits tend to be 'g' (much less percussive than its English equivalent) and 'ch' (which is a harder sound than in English).

Federico Bernardeschi – Ber-nar-dess-key

Davide Biraschi – Bee-rass-key

Federico Chiesa – Ki-yays-a

Alessio Cragno – Cran-yo

Roberto Gagliardini – Gal-yar-dee-knee

Simone Scuffet – Scoo-fet

Polish looks impossibly hard-edged on paper to English speakers. Tellingly, the letter 'Z' is worth ten points in the English version of the word game Scrabble, and just one in Polish. Key tripping points explained: the accents on 'ą' and 'ę' add a hidden 'n' for English speakers, a 'w' is more like an English 'v' and 'ł' is soft enough to be an English 'w'.

Pawel Dawidowicz – Pavel Dah-vid-aw-vitch

Bartłomiej Drągowski – Bart-woh-myay Dron-goff-skee

Paweł Jaroszyński – Pavel Ya-ro-shin-ski

Jarosław Jach – Yah-row-swav Yakh

Bartosz Kapustka – Bar-tosh

Tomasz Kędziora – Tom-ash Kend-zhoor-a

Dawid Kownacki – Dah-vid Kov-nats-key

Jarosław Kubicki – Koo-bits-key

Igor Łasicki – Wah-sheet-ski

Łukasz Moneta – Woo-cash

Jarosław Niezgoda – Yah-row-swav Nyez-go-da

Krzysztof Piątek – Pee-on-tek

Mariusz Stępiński – Sten-pin-ski

Maksymilian Stryjek – Stree-yek

Przemysław Szymiński – P-sheh-mi-swav Shim-in-ski

Jakub Wrąbel – Ya-coob Vron-bell

'Edgar Ee-eh' ©Eddy Risch

Spain and Portugal share a border, but their languages sound very different.

Joäo Carvalho – Jew-wow Carval-you

Tobias Figueiredo – Tu-be-esh Fi-gay-ray-do

Edgar Ié – Ee-eh

Diogo Jota – Dee-oh-gu Zhota

Iuri Medeiros – You-ree Moo-day-roosh

Gonçalo Paciência – Gon-sah-lu Pah-see-en-sia

Daniel Podence – Poh-den-ss

Rebocho – Ru-bosho

Some simple rules make things easy: a 'č' and a 'ć' are like an English 'ch', whereas an unaccented 'c' is more like 'ts' for English speakers. A 'j' is a bit like an English 'y' and a 'ž' sounds a lot like the 's' in the English word 'pleasure'.

Miroslav Bogosavac – Bo-go-sa-vats

Aleksandar Čavrić – Chav-ritch

Mijat Gačinović – Mee-yat Ga-cheeno-vitch

Filip Manojlović – Man-oil-ov-itch

Ognjen Ožegović – Og-nyen Oh-jeggo-vitch

Srdjan Plavšić – Ser-jan Plav-shitch

Miloš Veljković – Mee-losh Vel-ko-vitch

Andrija Živković – Jeev-ko-vitch

Milan 'Shkreen-ee-ar' ©SFZ

Slovak and Czech are not the same language, but some similar pronunciation rules apply. Acute accents extend the vowel (so á = aah in English) while an 'š' is a 'sh'.

Matúš Bero – Mat-ooze

Martin Chrien – Khree-en

Lukáš Haraslín – Har-as-leen

Tomáš Huk – Tom-ash Hook

Adam Jakubech – Yack-oo-beck

Róbert Mazáň – Ma-zaan

Jaroslav Mihalík – Mee-high-leek

Branislav Niñaj – Ninny-eye

Marek Rodák – Roe-dark

Pavol Šafranko – Sha-franco

Ľubomir Šatka – Shat-ka

Milan Škriniar – Shkreen-ee-ar

Nikolas Špalek – Shpar-lek

Tomáš Vestenický – Ves-ten-its-key

The popularity of Spanish football means most people vaguely understand the pronunciation rules now, yet these four tricky ones are worth a look. Interesting facts: a 'z' at the end of a word is always pronounced 'th', while an 'h' at the start of a word is always silent.

Héctor Bellerín – Eck-tor Bay-air-een

Jorge Meré – Hor-hay Meh-ray

Saúl Ñíguez – Sah-ool Nyee-geth

Pau – Pow

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The Swedish 'g', like its Danish counterpart, has been fooling English speakers for decades. To illustrate, if an English ship ran into a Swedish 'iceberg', it would hit an 'iceberry'.

Anton Cajtoft – Kite-oft

Paweł Cibicki – Chee-bit-ski

Pontus Dahlberg – Dorl-berry

Melker Hallberg – Hull-berry

Carlos Strandberg – Strond-berry