The Euro 2024 Finals draw is set to take place in Hamburg on Sunday. Before the same though, a lot of questions seem to emerge about the process for the tournament draw and how teams are grouped.
So, to address the same, here we have a detailed explainer on how the entire process works.
TEAMS
- Twenty one of the 24 final places have been filled.
- Hosts Germany qualified automatically and 20 teams qualified through the European qualifiers, the top two in each group.
- Three teams are unknown at the time of the draw, they will come through the playoffs in March. Teams qualified for the playoffs based on their performance in the Nations League.
SEEDING
- Teams have been seeded in accordance with the overall European qualifiers rankings, and there are six teams in each of the four pots.
- Germany, as hosts, are automatically seeded in Pot 1 and will not be drawn as they have been allocated to Group A.
- The three playoff winners are placed in Pot 4.
POTS
The 24 teams – three of which are yet to be determined by the play-offs – have been separated into four pots of six ahead of the Euro 2024 draw. There will be 21 teams in the Euro 2024 draw on 2 December, plus the three place holders for the unconfirmed qualifiers from the play-offs.
As host nation, Germany are automatically allocated into Pot 1 and will be placed in Group A. The other 20 teams to have already qualified are allocated pots in accordance with their results in the qualification stage for Euro 2024.
Pot 1: Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England
Pot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Albania, Austria
Pot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Pot 4: Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Playoff winner A (Poland/Wales/Finland/Estonia), Playoff winner B (Israel/Bosnia/Ukraine/Iceland), Playoff winner C (Georgia/Greece/Kazakhstan/Luxembourg)
DRAW PROCEDURE
- The draw will place teams into six groups, with four teams in each group.
- The draw begins with Pot 1, with the first team drawn assigned to the first-available group in alphabetical order (Group B in this case as Germany are in Group A).
- A further six pots (A, B, C, D, E, F) are required to draw the respective team’s position in each group, which will decide the fixture order within the group.
- Once Pot 1 has been emptied, the draw continues with Pot 2 in the same way, then Pot 3 and ends with Pot 4.
- Teams within each group play each other once, and the group winners and runners-up will advance to the round of 16, along with the four best third-placed teams.
POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
- With teams seeded according to their performance in the qualifiers and not their FIFA ranking, defending champions Italy are likely to face a tough group as they find themselves in Pot 4.
- One possible outcome could see them face France, Hungary and the Netherlands. They could also play England who they defeated on penalties in the final of Euro 2020 and played in the same qualifying group for Euro 2024.
- England and Scotland could be drawn in the same group, as they were at Euro 2020.
- World Cup 2022 semi-finalists Croatia are in Pot 3.
FINALS
- In the opening match of the tournament, hosts Germany take on the team drawn as A2, in Munich on June 14.
- The Euro 2024 final will take place on July 14 in Berlin.
- Ten cities have been chosen as venues across Germany – Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)