Region: Midi-Pyrenees
Population: 439,550
City ambassador: Fabien Barthez (former France goalkeeper)

Toulouse might just be France's most overlooked city. Known as 'La Ville Rose' (the Pink City) thanks to the dusky-pink bricks used in many of its buildings, it's the country's fourth-biggest metropolis and has one of the largest universities outside Paris – and yet Toulouse receives a fraction of the visitors compared to better-known cities such as Nice, Bordeaux and Lyon.

What to See

•  Place du Capitole

Place du Capitole, a huge pedestrianized open space in the heart of Toulouse, serves as the main city square. Flanked by grand municipal buildings, the square includes the long neo-classical facade of Capitole, the city hall, built in the 1750s. Cafes also cluster around the edge of the massive square, which hosts outdoor markets and is floodlit at night.

•  St. Sernin Basilica

Located less than half a mile from the Capitole, the church and its lovely octagonal bell tower form a major landmark. Made of a combination of red brick and stone (with the upper parts all brick due to the high price of stone), the building is graceful and striking. Although the west facade is rather severe, the sides are elegant and the church has a number of ornate doorways.

Transport

The crossroads of the south-west of France, Toulouse is a very accessible city by all means of transport. Toulouse has an international airport (Blagnac) and is connected to Paris by a high-speed TGV rail line, with a journey time of 5 hours and 30 minutes. For a long time Toulouse was not well served by roads but now the city is at the heart of a motorway network linking south-west France.

Distances to other UEFA EURO 2016 venues
Bordeaux – 245km
Marseille – 405km
Lyon – 540km
Saint-Etienne – 540km
Nice – 570km
Paris – 680km
Saint-Denis – 695km
Lens – 880km
Lille – 895km

Football

Toulouse Football Club, also known simply as TFC, is a French association football club based in the city of Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top level of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium Municipal located within the city. The first team is managed by former club player Dominique Arribage and captained by midfielder Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro.

Les Pitchouns have won 3 Ligue 2 and 1 Coupe de France.[1] Toulouse have participated in European competition five times. In 2008, the club, among celebratory fanfare, qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history and, in the following season, played in the inaugural edition of the UEFA Europa League.

UEFA capacity: 33,000
Tenants: Toulouse FC
Reopened: January 2016 (original opened in June 1937)

Stadium de Toulouse was built in 1937. One year later, at the 1938 World Cup, it hosted the match and rematch between Cuba and Romania in the first round of the tournament.

The stadium was further developed in 1949, but then remained very much the same for almost half a century.

Stadium de Toulouse was selected as one of the playing venues of the 1998 World Cup, and as a result underwent a major redevelopment. During the World Cup, the stadium hosted four group matches and the round of 16 match between Holland and Yugoslavia (2-1).

Stadium de Toulouse was also selected as one of the playing venues for Euro 2016. Initially an extensive redevelopment of the stadium was planned, but this had to get scaled back due to funding issues.

UEFA EURO 2016 matches

Group stage
13/06/16, 15.00: Spain v Czech Republic
17/06/16, 15.00: Italy v Sweden
20/06/16, 21.00: Russia v Wales

Round of 16
26/06/16, 21.00: WF v RE