Irish win Polish vote

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says he considers Ireland as 'the real winners of Euro-2012" owing to its "fantastic supporters."

Tusk said: "Even if we don't yet know the finalists, the real winners of the Euro are Ireland owing to the fantastic behaviour of their supporters."

The Irish crashed out without a point to their name but their supporters won plaudits for backing their side to the hilt all the way through three defeats.

Mix and match

Of 16 teams at Euro 2012 no fewer than 15 incorporate players who either have double nationality or or are of a different origin, according to the Austrian Integration Fund (OeIF) specialising in migration studies.

France are the most "mixed' side with 13 players of foreign origin - the majority of them from Francophone Africa. Croatia and the Netherlands have nine while eight of the Irish squad are of British origin.

"These figures show the huge potential of sport in terms of integration," said the OeIF. Russia went against the trend with all of their squad of Russian origin.

Hot shots

Some Portugal players have found a novel way of relaxing as they wait for their semi-final as the first team to have made it through.

Several in the squad, including Nani, Nelson Oliveira and Hugo Viana, went off to the rifle range Saturday to learn to be hot shots not with footballs but air pistols near their hotel at Opalenica, Poland, Portuguese media said.