It encapsulates an absurdity of the European Championship.
It doesn’t just matter which teams you are drawn against.
It also matters what letter your group is.
The fairness of sports depends on the principle that all teams must abide by the same rules.
This is why doping, bribing opponents or referees or, indeed, breaching Financial Fair Play rules distort the entire competition.
Sporting integrity also depends upon symmetry of information – the idea that all teams must have equal knowledge about what the outcomes of results could be.
Matches are played out in unison on the final day of each league season to prevent the sides that play last from having an unfair advantage.
