When it was announced a few years back that the Euro 2016 would be expanded to 24 teams instead of the 16 of previous years, there was anticipation that this would allow for "lesser" European sides to get into the tournament.

So what was the turnout?

The usual suspects made the tournament, including England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Russia, Czech Republic and Germany. England is making its ninth appearance in the Euro, Portugal its seventh, Spain its 10th, Italy its ninth, Germany its 12th, Russia its 11th and the Czech Republic's ninth.

Belgium is making its fifth appearance in the contest and its first since 2000; Romania is doing the same. Poland is back for the third time in a row after making its tournament debut in 2008. Switzerland also returns for a fourth tournament while Austria is making its second appearance at the Euro.

The remaining qualified teams are making debuts, including Iceland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Albania and Slovakia.

While it is nice to see new faces the big question beckons: will these teams be remotely competitive?

All of these debutants are in the top 35 according to FIFA's often controversial rankings. Of the five, Wales is the highest ranked coming in at No. 8.

Some might question whether "easier" groups aided these sides in their questions for qualification, but the argument does not completely hold water. Wales had to compete with Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina, both World Cup contestants in 2014.

Iceland topped a group that included the Czechs, Turkey and the Netherlands. That is no easy feat regardless of the Dutch side's poor form. Slovakia overcame the Ukraine to finish second and even defeated Spain at home to land the qualification. Albania defeated Portugal and overcame the Danish to finish second in its group. Perhaps the "easy" group label could be placed here as Albania only had to play eight games in the tournament, four of which were against Armenia and Serbia. Moreover, the team was gifted three points after Serbian fans made some poor decisions.

Northern Ireland may have also been "lucky" considering its toughest opponent in the group was Romania, a team that rarely makes a big splash in a big tournament. Greece, which was expected to compete, wound up at the bottom of the table. However, the team still had to pull off the wins and it took care of the group with 21 points.

Of the teams that will make their debuts, the one most likely to make a mark is Wales. The Welsh have two players that are easily among the elite, something the other five teams on this list cannot claim. Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey were the main reasons that Wales finished second in its group. Bale scored a whopping six goals in qualifying while Ramsey was the creative player setting everyone up. Bale looks primed for a breakout season at Real Madrid and he might ride that form into France where anything is bound to happen.