Who will play EURO 2024?
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A total of 53 European nations learned their qualifying fates for Euro 2024 as the October 9 draw was held in Frankfurt, Germany. A number of big countries are set to face off during qualification as a result, including Euro 2021 finalists England and Italy who will once again resume their rivalry in Group C, alongside Ukraine, North Macedonia, and Malta. Gareth Southgate's side will be looking for revenge after the Azzurri took the 2021 crown on penalties at a packed-out Wembley Stadium, while North Macedonia will be eyeing up another shock against Italy after dumping Roberto Mancini's team out of 2022 World Cup reckoning at the play-off stage. Elsewhere, Netherlands and France were also drawn together in Group B alongside Ireland, Greece and Gibraltar, though other top seeds Spain, Belgium and Portugal will likely be content with their groups. MORE: When does the 2022 World Cup start? All the details Euro 2024 groupsHere are the final groups that were drawn for Euro 2024 qualifying.
MORE: Euro 2021 bracket with all the results and highlights When was the Euro 2024 group stage draw?The Euro 2024 qualifying draw took place on Sunday, October 9 in the host country Germany. Frankfurt's Festhalle Exhibition Centre was the venue for the draw (11:00 BST / 06:00 ET). UEFA had four ex-players on hand to assist the draw: Former German internationals Jurgen Klinsmann and Karl-Heinz Riedle, and ex-Italy stars Gianluca Zambrotta and Demetrio Albertini. UEFA provided a live stream of the draw on its official channels. Euro 2024 group pots, seedsThe 53 nations participating in qualifying were seeded ahead of the draw based on the final 2022/23 UEFA Nations League rankings following the completion of the Nations League group stage in September 2022. Germany automatically qualifies as host and will not participate in qualifying. Russia is banned from competing in the 2024 Euros as part of UEFA's decision to sanction the country following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2021. Below were the pot designations ahead of the October 9, 2022 qualifying draw:
The four Nations League finalists — Netherlands, Croatia, Spain, Italy — were broken out into a separate pot because they required special consideration. Given that those four nations needed to have open dates in June 2023 in order to participate in the Nations League finals, they had to be part of one of the five-team groups (A-G) and avoid the six-team groups (H-J), which feature additional matchdays. MORE: Complete 2022 FIFA World Cup schedule How the Euro 2024 qualifying draw workedThe draw followed a straightforward process: Officials began by drawing the Nations League Finalists pot, and then proceeded to Pot 1, and then Pot 2, and so on until each pot was emptied and teams were allocated to a group.
Unless there were restrictions or exceptions (see list below), teams were drawn into the next available group in alphabetical order (from Group A through Group J). That means the four Nations League teams were first drawn into Groups A-D and then the draw continued with the other Pot 1 teams slotted into Groups E-J. Up next was Pots 2-5 with every nation slotted in a group. The six-team groups are Groups H-J and so the three Pot 6 teams were drawn into one of those. Draw restrictions, exceptions and conditionsThe European governing body implemented a handful of restrictions to the draw. Were any of these scenarios to arise during the draw, they would have required adjustments:
When are the 2024 Euros?The round-robin qualifying will take place from March to November 2023 and the top two teams from each group qualify directly to Euro 2024 in Germany. The final three berths to the tournament will come through special playoffs that will be played in March 2024. These will be based on Nations League performance instead of group qualifying performance which has always been the case in the past. The Euros will be held in Germany between June 14 and July 14 of 2024. A total of 24 nations will contend for the European title:
Euros 2024 qualifying schedule
Author(s) Simon Borg is a senior editor for football/soccer at The Sporting News. Nathan Evans is a data editor for The Sporting News. Will England play in the next EUROs 2024?England men's senior team will face opposition from Italy, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta in their UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying group. The draw was made on Sunday morning in Frankfurt, with Germany hosting the 2024 edition of the EUROs, and the Three Lions were drawn out as a second seed in Group C.
Who will host 2028 EUROs?Matches would potentially take place in England at Wembley, Villa Park, Everton Stadium, London Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Wembley, Etihad Stadium, St James' Park, Stadium of Light, Old Trafford, in Dublin at the Aviva Arena and Croke Park, in Belfast at the Casement Park Stadium, in Glasgow at Hampden Park ...
Will Euro 2024 have 32 teams?October 10 – UEFA will not expand the European Championship to 32 teams from its current 24-team format in the foreseeable future.
Who is hosting the 2026 EUROs?Denmark, Sweden & Norway. The pinnacle championship in European men's international handball will return to Scandinavia in five years, with the joint-bid of Denmark, Sweden and Norway given the green light for Men's EHF EURO 2026.
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