By Atul Prakash
LONDON (Reuters) - As football fans look forward to the European championship in France this summer, investment strategists have an eye on which listed companies could prove to be winners.
French bank Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) got into the spirit by selecting 11 "first-team players" as stocks that could get a boost from the 24-nation tournament in June-July.
Its picks comprised gambling firm Paddy Power Betfair
Among substitutes warming up on the sidelines, it included online bookmaker GVC (L:GVC), broadcaster TF1 (PA:TFFP), bottler Coca Cola Hellenic (L:CCH), Eurotunnel (PA:GETP) and luxury goods company Kering (PA:PRTP).
And, perhaps unsurprisingly, SocGen reckoned hosts France were worth a flutter for the title with average bookmaker odds of 10/3.
More than 2.5 million fans, including 1.5 million foreign visitors, are expected to attend matches, according to UEFA, European football's governing body.
Fans are forecast to spend about 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) and games will be seen live in more than 230 territories around the world.