Euro Group Draw: Everything You Need to Know
The UEFA Euro 2024 final tournament draw, a pivotal event for European football, took place on Saturday, December 2nd, 2023. The draw ceremony commenced at 18:00 CET, setting the stage for the upcoming championship.
The prestigious Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany, served as the venue for the Euro Group Draw. Notably, Hamburg is one of the ten host cities for Euro 2024 and will host four group stage matches and a quarter-final.
Germany, as the host nation, secured automatic qualification for the tournament. Twenty other teams earned their spots by finishing in the top two positions within their respective groups in the European Qualifiers. The remaining three berths will be determined through play-off matches scheduled for March 2024. These play-offs will feature twelve teams selected based on their performance in the 2022/23 Nations League. Six semi-finals will be played on March 21st, followed by three finals on March 26th, with the winners of these final matches completing the 24-team roster for Euro 2024.
Prior to the Euro group draw, teams were categorized into four pots (1, 2, 3, and 4) according to their qualifying group stage results. Germany, as the host, was placed in Pot 1 and automatically assigned to Group A. The three play-off winners were designated to Pot 4. Six additional pots (A through F) were used to determine each team’s position within their respective groups. Pots B to F each contained four balls representing the available positions in each group (e.g., B1, B2, B3, and B4). Pot A contained three balls, representing positions A2, A3, and A4 in Group A, as Germany already occupied position A1.
The finalized groups resulting from the Euro group draw are as follows: Group A consists of Germany, Scotland, Hungary, and Switzerland. Group B includes Spain, Croatia, Italy, and Albania. Group C features Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, and England. Group D comprises the Play-off winner A, Netherlands, Austria, and France. Group E includes Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, and Play-off winner B. Finally, Group F is composed of Türkiye, Play-off winner C, Portugal, and Czechia.
The Euro 2024 tournament will follow the same format as Euro 2020. The top two teams from each of the six groups will advance to the round of 16, along with the four best third-placed teams. The tournament will then transition to a knockout format, culminating in the final match. Broadcasts of the draw were available through various broadcasters listed on the UEFA website. The draw was also streamed live on UEFA.com and the official UEFA Euro 2024 app.