UEFA Euro 2024 will kick off on June 14, at 3:00pm EST. At that time, host nation Germany will on Scotland at the Allianz Arena. The tournament will run through the 14 of July, with the Olympiastadion Berlin hosting the final.
Tournament Structure
24 teams are divided into six groups of four teams. After the teams play their three group stage games, the two teams with the highest points total, advance to the round of 16. Furthermore, the four highest ranked third placed teams will also advance to round of 16.
Group A
Host nation Germany is joined by Scotland, Hungary, and Switzerland. The Germans look to improve their recent international record. They have been knocked out of the group stage of the 2022 World Cup, and the round of 16 of the 2020 Euros.
Their squad has a diverse mix of youth and experience. With the Toni Kroos, İlkay Gündoğan, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz headlining the team. Furthermore, head coach Julian Nagelsmann will bring flair and pace to Germany’s attack.
Scotland had a disappointing group stage in 2020, losing twice, tieing once, while only scoring one goal. They have improved since then, winning five of their eight matches in the qualifying round for these Euros, while scoring 17 goals.
Head coach Steve Clarke, and captain Andrew Robertson, look to guide the Scots to their first knockout stage in their history.
Hungary looks to advance to the knockouts for the first time since 2016. Furthermore, they look poised to do so with talented players like Willi Orbán, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Roland Sallai leading the way. Szoboszlai will be one to watch given his technical abilities and direct style, and his leadership will be on display as one of the youngest captains at these Euros.
The Swiss pulled off a tremendous upset last tournament, beating favorites France in penalties in the round of 16. They will be led by head coach Murat Yakin, and key players Granit Xhaka, and Yann Sommer. Xhaka is coming off an incredible season with Bayer Leverkusen, where his poise on the ball and defensive acumen helped the German side go undefeated for 51 games. Sommer on the other hand has kept the door shut for Inter Milan this season. His shot-stopping prowess helped Inter concede a league-low 20 goals in 37 games this Serie A season.
Group B
Champions of Euro 2020 Italy headline Group B, joined by Spain, Croatia and Albania.
Luciano Spalletti coaches the Italians, and PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma captains them. They have a balanced squad of youth and experience, headlined by Donnarumma and Nicolò Barella. Barella has been superb in Inter’s midfield this season, registering 7 assists in 47 games this season. Barella’s poise will balance the pace and direct nature of players like Federico Chiesa and Gianluca Scamacca up front.
Luis de la Fuente coaches Spain, and will count on a mix of new additions, and old face’s en route to the knockouts. For example, Barça youngsters Pau Cubarsí (17) and Lamine Yamal (16) are likely to feature for La Roja. On the flip side, experienced players like Dani Carvajal (32), and Rodri (27) will provide balance to the squad.
Croatia look to match their stellar world cup form in the Euros, after finishing runners-up in 2018, and semi-finalists in 2022. Their form in the Euros has been more modest, only reaching the round of 16 in 2016 and 2020. They will be led by head coach Zlatko Dalić, and bona fide legend Luka Modrić, who will serve as captain in his final tournament for Croatia.
Albania has only qualified once for the Euros, getting knocked in the group stage in 2016. They will count on captain Berat Gjimshiti to organize the defense, coming off a stellar season with Atalanta. Gjimshiti helped Atalanta win the Europa League and finish 4th in Serie A this season. Alongside him are squad regulars Elseid Hysaj, and Etrit Berisha. Hysaj will provide defensive cover and assists from the left back position. Finally, goalkeeper Berisha will look to stifle the efforts of the many talented forwards among the group opponents.
Group C
Slovenia has qualified for the Euros for the first time since 2000. Captain Jan Oblak will try to keep clean sheets as talented striker Benjamin Šeško tries to fire Slovenia into the knockouts. Šeško has scored 18 goals in 42 games for RB Leipzig this season, and 11 in 28 games for Slovenia. Oblak has played 64 games for Slovenia, and kept 4 clean sheets in the ten qualifying games leading up to the tournament.
Denmark played in the same qualifying group as Slovenia, finishing first thanks to a superior head-to-head record.
Andreas Christensen will line up in an organized back 3, shielding Kasper Schmeichel‘s goal to contain talented forwards like Harry Kane, and Serbian Aleksandar Mitrović. Up front, Denmark has several options to provide goals, like Yussuf Poulsen, Kasper Dolberg, and Rasmus Højlund. Højlund has scored 7 goals in 12 appearances for the Danes, while Poulsen, Dolberg have added 12 and 11 goals in their careers respectively.
Serbia will be lead by prolific forward Aleksandar Mitrović, who scored 5 goals in qualifying. He is joined by captian Dušan Tadić, who brings expirience and creative ability from midfield garnered over 106 games for his country. Additional firepower will provided by Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović, who has scored 13 goals in 25 games for his country.
Finally, England will be captained by Europe’s most prolific goalscorer, Harry Kane. He scored 44 goals in 45 games for Bayern this season, as well as eight goals in eight games in qualifying. He will play ahead Declan Rice, a well-rounded poised defensive midfielder, and Jude Bellingham, a technically gifted and prolific attacking midfielder.
Group D
This group may be the tightest and most exiting. Staring with the favorites, France are led by Kylian Mbappé, who also captians the team. He has scored 44 goals in 48 games for PSG this season, and added 9 goals in 8 qualifying games for France. In midfield, N’Golo Kanté has returned to anchor the midfield as a 6, playing ahead talented defenders like William Saliba and Théo Hernandez.
Second favorites in this group are the Dutch, who have not won the Euros since 1988, and were knocked out in the round of 16 in the 2016 edition of the tournament. Ronald Koeman coaches them, and Virgil van Dijk is their captain, anchoring a defense that includes stout and experienced players like Nathan Aké, and Stefan de Vrij. These three players have amassed 172 games cumulatively for their country. Their possession based style is best expressed by midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Georginio Wijnaldum. They are press resistant, and excel at threading the needle to find forward moving into space.
Seasoned veteran Ralf Rangnick coaches Austria, who have their most talent in midfield. These include Marcel Sabitzer, Konrad Laimer and Christoph Baumgartner, all of whom played in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. Sabitzer and Laimer had particularly stellar campaigns, as Laimer reached the semi-finals with Bayern Munich, while Sabitzer reached the final with Borussia Dortmund.
Finally there is Poland. They will count on goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny to anchor a defense boasting Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior and Jan Bednarek of newly promoted Southampton. Piotr Zieliński will be ever present in midfield, as a versatile midfielder representing his country in his fifth international tournament. Spearheading the attack will certainly be Barça’s Robert Lewandowski, who is coming off a relatively meager goal scoring season by his standard. Lewandowski has scored 26 goals in 49 games for Barça this season.
Group E
Belgium headlines this group, led by talents like Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jan Vertonghen. Lukaku scored a whopping 14 goals in eight qualifying games, with 13 of them coming from open play. De Bruyne only played one match in the qualifiers due to injuries, but is set to feature in the tournament, adding to his 99 appearances for the Belgians. Vertonghen is the most experienced player on this squad with 157 appearances, adding leadership, poise on the ball and defensive solidity to this team.
This Slovakia side features stout defender Milan Škriniar, a regular starter for PSG this season, who will captain Slovakia this tournament. They also count on a tremendous amount of experience from Peter Pekarík and Juraj Kucka, who have 124 and 104 appearances respectively. Pekarík will anchor the defense along Škriniar from right-back, while Kucka will play in central midfield as an eight, moving the ball quickly in between the lines.
Romania finished undefeated and above group favorites Switzerland in qualifying.
Three players led Romania in goal scoring, with three goals each, demonstrating a healthy distribution of firepower in the squad. These were Valentin Mihăilă, Nicolae Stanciu, and Denis Alibec, all of whom made the preliminary list of 28 players for the Euros. Stanciu is also the captain, and the top scorer in overall in this squad, with 14 goals in 68 appearances for Romania.
Finally, the Ukrainians had a challenging road to the tournament for two key reasons. First, they can not play games in Ukraine on account of Russia’s invasion of they country. Second, they placed second in a qualifying group with the last tournament’s finalists, Italy and England.
Ukraine thus had to go the play-off en route to the tournament, beating Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland along the way.
Group F
Portugal is the most talented team in this group, buoyed by players like captain Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, and Pepe. Ronaldo leads this team as a captain, as well as in appearances (206) and goals (128). Pepe also adds experience, as one of the oldest outfield players at this tournament, at 41 years old. Silva coming off a Premier League Title win with Manchester City, and is extremely skilled at dribbling in tight spaces, adding a creative edge to this Portuguese side.
Türkiye (Turkey), finished ahead of Croatia, upsetting a side who have been in the final four of the last two world cups.
Hakan Çalhanoğlu, likely the most talented player on this team, will lead his country as captain. He excels these days as deep lying play maker for Inter, but plays a more advanced role in Turkey’s midfield. There he plays as an eight ahead of defensive midfielder İsmail Yüksek, playing a wide range of passes, and occasionally tested the opposition keepers from outside the box.
The Czech Republic as per usual are very talented, featuring West Ham’s Tomáš Souček and Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick. Souček stars as a defensive midfielder for the Czech’s while Schick specializes in moving in the box to score goals. They look to match and improve last tournaments record, where they reached the quarter-finals, losing 1-2 to Denmark.
Finally there are tournament rookies Georgia, who qualified through after defeating Greece on penalties. Their most notable player is Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who excels at breaking defenders down in one on one situations.
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- Source: https://thegamehaus.com/sports/uefa-euro-2024-preview/2024/06/03/
