On Saturday, while the regular round matches were being played in Russia and Europe, the event of the day in Germany was the draw for the group stage of Euro 2024. It all started at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time in the building the Hamburg Philharmonic. Naturally, the ceremony was attended by many guests: Gianluigi Buffon, Steve McManaman, Angelos Charisteas, Brian Laudrup, Tomas Rosicky, Ricardo Quaresma, Blaise Matuidi, Wesley Sneijder, David Silva and Sami Khedira… The European mascot, Alberto Bear, too It was presented in Hamburg.
Euro 2024 mascot: Albert the bear
Photo: Marvin Ibo Guengoer/Getty Images
But the most important thing, of course, is the draw itself. We got several interesting groups at once (although not all of them were fully formed). Here is a useful image of all the famous quartets of the moment.
Group compositions:
Now let’s talk about each group separately. Let us remember that from each group (there are 24 in total, each with four teams) the two best teams advance, and four more places in the playoffs will be for the four best teams that will occupy third place in their groups.
Not all groups have been fully formed yet. Three more teams should qualify for Euro 2024 through the Nations League playoffs: Road to:Poland – Estonia; Wales – Finland.Path B: Israel – Iceland; Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ukraine.Path C: Georgia – Luxembourg; Greece – Kazakhstan.
Draw analysis
Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland
This group cannot exactly be called passengers. Yes, everything could have been worse for the hosts, but literally all rivals are very inflexible. Scotland surprised everyone in the group qualification with Spain, losing only once and drawing twice. Hungary generally qualified without defeat (although the group there was easier), and Switzerland advanced from the group at both the 2018 World Cup and the 2020 Euro Cup (then even reached the quarterfinals, beating France), and in the 2022 World Cup. In Qatar, however, after leaving the group, the Swiss received six from Portugal. But the class of the team is high.
Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania
No words are needed here: we have a “group of death.” Neither Spain, nor Italy and Croatia need any special presentation. Well, the strong Albania (with RPL legionnaires in its composition) will face the Spanish, current champions of the Euro Cup and bronze medalists of the World Cup. Albania, by the way, qualified for the Euro Cup and took first place in the qualifying group together with the Czech Republic and Poland.
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Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England
A fairly simple group for the favorite: the English. Slovenia and Denmark played together in the qualifying phase and there were enough problems there already. Now, this is not the same Denmark that destroyed the last European Championship. The Slovenes even had problems with Kazakhstan in the qualifying round, but Serbia reached the European Championship for the first time since the fall of Yugoslavia. Here, as always, there is a great lineup, good play, but in big tournaments there are almost always failures. Although the Serbians have every chance to enter the third places among the four best teams (and thus reach the playoffs).
Group D: Nations League Route A winner, Austria, Netherlands, France
One of the three groups in which the composition of the participants is not fully formed. But now there are two clear favorites: naturally, France and the Netherlands. By the way, in the qualifying round they played together (and both times the French were stronger). Austria will most likely fight for third place with one of these four teams: Poland, Estonia, Wales and Finland.
France beat the Netherlands twice in qualifying for the Euro Cup
Photo: Marcel van Dorst/Getty Images
Group E: Nations League Route B winner, Belgium, Slovakia, Romania
Belgium, with our old friend Domenico Tedesco, is transforming. They went through the qualifying group alongside Austria, Sweden, Azerbaijan and Estonia without losing, scoring 22 goals and only conceding four. So everything is clear with the favorite. But as for second place, it seems that there will be doubts until the end of the group stage: Romania (43rd place in the FIFA rankings) and Slovakia (45th) seem equal rivals. Well, they will be joined by someone from the following quartet: Israel, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine.
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Group F: Nations League Route C winner, Turkey, Portugal, Czech Republic
This group is especially interesting for us: this is where the Kazakh national team can play, if it manages to beat Greece and then the winner of the Georgia-Luxembourg pair. For the rest, no surprises can be expected: Portugal is the favorite, Turkey should confidently reach the playoffs, the Czech Republic is an outsider. If Kazakhstan reaches the Euro, it is quite possible to fight for third place!
Euro 2024 schedule
On Friday, June 14, the German team will play the opening match against the Scottish team. Here you have the rest of the group stage schedule.
June 15: Group A: Hungary – SwitzerlandGroup B: Spain – CroatiaGroup B: Italy – Albania
June 16: Group C: Slovenia – Denmark Group C: Serbia – England Group D: Nations League Route A Winner – Netherlands
Harry Kane must be happy with the draw.
Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images
June 17: Group D: Austria – France Group E: Belgium – Slovakia Group E: Romania – winner of Route B of the Nations League
June 18: Group F: Turkey – winner of the Nations League Path CGroup F: Portugal – Czech Republic
June 19: Group A: Scotland – SwitzerlandGroup A: Germany – HungaryGroup B: Croatia – Albania
June 20: Group B: Spain – ItalyGroup C: Denmark – England Group C: Slovenia – Serbia
Álvaro Morata had no luck with the group
Photo: Fran Santiago/Getty Images
June 21: Group D: Nations League Route A winner – Austria Group D: Netherlands – France Group E: Slovakia – Nations League Route B winner
June 22: Group E: Belgium – Romania Group F: Turkey – Portugal Group F: Nations League Route C Winner – Czech Republic
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June 23: Group A: Switzerland – GermanyGroup A: Scotland – Hungary
June 24 Group B: Albania – Spain Group B: Croatia – Italy Group C: England – Slovenia Group C: Denmark – Serbia
June 25: Group D: France – winner of the Nations League Route A Group D: Netherlands – Austria
June 26: Group E: Nations League Route B Winner – Belgium Group E: Slovakia – Romania Group F: Czech Republic – Turkey Group F: Nations League Route C Winner – Portugal
What do you think of the result of the draw? Share your opinion in the comments!
