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In contrast to Roy Hodgson, this is Russia boss Leonid Slutsky’s first major tournament as an international manager. He’s the youngest head-coach among the ones to have reached Euro 2016.

Slutsky earned the Russia job off the back of his performance with CSKA Moscow, who he led to three Russian titles and the Russian Cup twice and still manages alongside his national team commitments. Quite the multi-tasker, this fella.

When he was appointed last August - replacing ex-England boss Fabio Capello with the side third in their qualifying group - he became the first Russian to coach the national team in almost 10 years. He subsequently led them to four wins in as many matches to reach the finals.

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At 68 years of age, England boss Roy Hodgson is the oldest manager at Euro 2016. With age comes experience, though, and the former Switzerland, Finland, Inter, Fulham, hell, just about everybody, boss is now leading England in his third major tournament. This is the most by an England boss since Sven Goran Eriksson took charge for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups with the 2004 Euros sandwiched inbetween.

Sven's record: three quarter-finals.

So far, Roy has a quarter-final and a group stage showing to his name.

England definitely have the numbers in the stands in Marseille. There will apparently be 20,000 of them in the Stade Velodrome.

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We've launched a new Euro 2016 Predictor game which allows you to guess the outcome of every match at this summer’s tournament. 

You can create leagues to play against friends, plus you will also be entered into an overall league with everyone in the game, including Match of the Day pundits and experts from across the BBC.

It takes less than a minute to sign up. You can play the game here.

Jermaine Jenas
Former England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

We've always had a lot of very good players in England and sometimes you have to make adjustments to get the best players on the pitch. I think one player up front is our best option and Harry Kane is the best player in that position. 

Rio Ferdinand
Former England defender on BBC One

The central defence is the weakest area in the team, and one of the reasons is because a partnership hasn't been formed. That's why I have been championing John Stones, it's not like there is an established partnership to break up.

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Rooney! Rooney! Rooney! This was the tournament that launched a young Wayne Rooney onto the international stage. 

The then Everton (soon to be Manchester United) forward started the opening game against France - a game were on course to win until Zinedine Zidane decided to come to life in injury time.

As normal time came to an end, England led in Lisbon through Frank Lampard's first-half goal but Zidane would soon cancel that out with a superb free-kick. Then, two minutes later, after Thierry Henry was felled by David James, Zidane placed the ball on the penalty spot, casually threw up and then slotted in the winner. Like you do.

After that, Rooney would fire England to the last eight before limping off with a broken foot 27 minutes into the game with Portugal, leaving his team-mates to suffer the seemingly inevitable penalty shoot-out defeat. Sigh.

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Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia and England have met twice; it was in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. England won at Wembley (Rio Ferdinand adding to a Michael Owen brace in a 3-0 victory) whilst Russia won in Moscow (Wayne Rooney scoring their goal in a 2-1 defeat).

England’s last game against Russia/USSR at the European Championships was in 1988. The Soviets were victors in the group stages (3-1). Their only previous encounter in the tournament was in 1968, which England won 2-0 (third-place final).

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Following further heartache (this time at the hands of Argentina - damn you Carlos Roa!) at World Cup '98, England rocked up in the Netherlands and Belgium with hope under manager Kevin Keegan.

They started brilliantly, racing into a 2-0 lead against Portugal in Eindhoven against Portugal but nerves crept in when Luis Figo hammered in from long range, doubt took hold as Joao Pinto headed home and resignation swept in as Nuno Gomes lashed in the winner.

Hope was subsequently restored with a 1-0 win over Germany, before being dashed again by Ionel Ganea's last-minute penalty for Romania. This country!

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Including the USSR, this is Russia's 11th appearance at the European Championships (only Germany can better that with 12). 

As the Soviet Union, they won the first ever European Championships in 1960, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 after extra-time in the final. They have lost their subsequent three Euros finals: 1964, 1972 and 1988.

In 2012, they failed to qualify for the group stage despite starting the tournament with a 4-1 victory over the Czech Republic.

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Want to know the top five questions being asked by people in England about first opponents Russia? Of course you do.

Here they, according to info provided by Google Trends...

1. Who is on the Russian Euro 2016 squad? 2. Who is the captain of the Russian football team? 3. How good is the Russian football team? 4. What time is the England-Russia football match? 5. Who are the best Russian footballers?

I'll have a go at some answers... 1. Have a look here. 2. Vasili Berezutski 3. Fifa rank them 29th in the world. Most bookies have them around 50/1, which puts them in the middle of the teams competing. Since qualifying they have lost four of six friendlies. 4. 20:00 BST 5. Arguably the best one, Alan Dzagoev, isn't in France after breaking his foot. Strikers Fedor Smolov and Artem Dzyuba are a threat.

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Do I have to do this? Oh, OK, if I must. 

It was the tournament when football came home, when flags of St George hung expectantly out of pretty much every bedroom window and El Tel and his boys seemed destined for victory.

The opening game at Wembley was against Switzerland, managed by some bloke called Roy Hodgson. All seemed to be going swimmingly after Alan Shearer ended a 12-game streak without a goal by smashing a shot into the roof of the net in the first half. This was checked, though, by Kubilay Turkyilmaz's late penalty to earn the Swiss a draw.

Victories over Scotland, the Netherlands and Spain followed before... before... no, I can't do it. Damn you Andreas Moller!

Rio Ferdinand
Former England defender

"I'm interested to see how Raheem Sterling does. I really want him to hit the tournament running, he's a talented player. I want him high and wide, him getting people one on one and taking them on. Then Harry Kane can do his stuff."

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England’s opening game of Sweden 1992 was against Denmark, the side drafted in after Yugoslavia, in a state of civil war, were not allowed to participate in the tournament.

The game in Malmo was a dour 0-0 draw, with midfielder John Jensen (who would join Arsenal the same summer) going closest with a shot that  rebounded back off the inside of the post and into the arms of goalkeeper Chris Woods in the closing stages.

One of the two teams would go on to glory, the other finished bottom of the group. No prizes for guessing who was who. Brolin… Dahlin… Brolin… brilliant!