This summer’s delayed Euro 2020 features some of the top talent in the world, with players primarily hailing from clubs in the top flights of England, France, Spain and Germany.
MLS, however, has some representation in this year’s European Championship. Seven MLS players have made their country’s final 26-man squad.
Minnesota United fans can watch this tournament with particular interest. The Loons have three players on Euro squads this summer.
Here is a look at the MLS players in the squad for their country at this summer’s European Championships:
Szabolcs Schon — Hungary (FC Dallas)
FC Dallas signed Schon from MTK Budapest in April. Schon had nine goals and four assists for Budapest in the Hungarian league. He’s only 20 years old and previously spent some time in Ajax’s youth system.
Schon is new to MLS. He’s only played three matches with Dallas so far, and has only played 51 minutes. Schon may get a few chances to play in the Euros, but the rest of Hungary’s striker corps is more experienced. Among Hungary’s forwards is former Chicago Fire forward Nemanja Nikolic, who now plays for Fehervar (Hungary).
Daniel Gazdag — Hungary (Philadelphia Union)
An early-season signing, Gazdag has only seen 23 minutes of action in one appearance for the Philadelphia Union. Gazdag arrived at the Union from Hungarian club Honved, where he was named the league’s player of the year after scoring 13 goals and assisting six.
Jukka Raitala — Finland (Minnesota United)
The 32-year-old fullback has played for four different MLS teams and featured for Finland in several European Championship qualifiers.
Raitala has started five matches for Minnesota United so far this season. He went 90 minutes in Finland’s final Euro 2020 tuneup, a 1-0 friendly loss to Estonia.
Robin Lod — Finland (Minnesota United)
Lod is a top player for Minnesota United, having scored two goals and assisted two goals in his first six matches of the 2021 season.
Lod figures to see a similar amount of the field as Raitala, having gone 90 minutes in Finland’s last friendly tuneup. Lod played 25 minutes for Finland in an earlier friendly loss to Switzerland.
Lassi Lappalainen — Finland (CF Montreal)
Lappalainen is on loan at CF Montreal from Bologna until December. He scored four goals for Montreal in 12 appearances last season, in the regular season following the MLS is Back tournament.
The 22-year-old Lappalainen has eight career appearances for Finland. In his last Finland cap he went 90 minutes at right midfielder in a friendly loss to Sweden on May 29.
Jan Gregus — Slovakia (Minnesota United)
Minnesota’s set piece master, Gregus joins Slovakia this summer looking to contribute to an effort to get out of one of the tournament’s toughest groups in Group E. Gregus has played in seven of Minnesota United’s eight MLS games so far this season.
Gregus played in three of Slovakia’s past four World Cup qualifiers and one out of Slovakia’s two pre-tournament friendlies.
Przemyslaw Frankowski — Poland (Chicago Fire)
The 26-year-old right winger had a positive first season for the Fire in 2019, scoring five goals and assisting seven goals. Since then, he’s made 25 more appearances for Chicago, including six in 2021.
Frankowski has 11 career Poland appearances. He had been out of the team entirely since 2019, but started in both of Poland’s friendlies on June 1 and 8.