The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, will be the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the European men's national teams of its member associations. Germany will host the tournament, which is scheduled to take place from 14 June to 14 July 2024 and the winner will later compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions against the 2024 Copa América winner. 24 teams will compete, with Georgia as the only team making their first appearance in a UEFA European Championship finals tournament.
It will be the third time that European Championship matches are played on German territory and the second time in reunified Germany, as the former West Germany hosted the tournament's 1988 edition, and four matches of the multi-national Euro 2020 were played in Munich. It will be the first time the competition is held in what was formerly East Germany with Leipzig as a host city, as well as the first time that a reunified Germany serves as a solo host nation.[1] The tournament will return to its usual four-year cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 8 March 2017, UEFA announced that two countries, Germany and Turkey, had announced their intentions to host the tournament before the deadline of 3 March 2017.[3][4]
The host was selected on 27 September 2018 in Nyon, Switzerland.[10][13][14] Germany initially planned to fully host Euro 2020 although never announced any firm interest by May 2012.[15]
Voting results
Country
Votes
Germany
12
Turkey
4
Abstention
1
Total
17
The UEFA Executive Committee voted for the host in a secret ballot, with only a simple majority required to determine the host. In the event of a tie, the UEFA President would cast the decisive vote.[16] Of the 20 members of the Executive Committee, two were ineligible to vote and one was absent, leaving a total of seventeen voting members.[17]
Venues
Germany had a wide choice of stadiums that satisfied UEFA's minimum capacity requirement of 30,000 seats for European Championship matches.[18]
Each team chose a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. The teams will train and reside in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases. The "team base camp" needs to be in Germany.[23]
As hosts, Germany qualified for the tournament automatically. The 23 remaining spots were determined by a qualifying tournament; 20 spots were decided by the direct qualification of the winners and runners-up of the 10 qualifying groups, with the remaining three spots decided by play-offs.[45] Places in the play-offs were given to the teams that performed the best in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League who did not already qualify via the main qualifying tournament.[46] The draw for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage was held on 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle in Frankfurt.[47][48] The qualifying group stage took place from March to November 2023, while the three play-offs were held in March 2024.[49]
Qualified teams
Of the 24 teams that qualified for the tournament, 19 participated in the previous edition. These include the defending champions Italy and runners-up England, as well as World Cup runners-upFrance and bronze medalist Croatia. Portugal were the only team to qualify with a flawless record, whilst France, England, Belgium, Hungary, and Romania also qualified without a loss.[50]
Albania and Romania returned after missing out on Euro 2021, the former qualifying for only their second major tournament. Serbia and Slovenia both returned for the first time since Euro 2000, with Serbia qualifying for the first time in its current iteration and Slovenia qualifying for their fourth major tournament as an independent nation.[51][52]Georgia beat Greece on penalties in the play-offs to qualify for their first-ever tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, also becoming the only debutants for this edition and ensuring every final tournament since the first one in 1960 saw one new team make their debut.[53]
Notable absentees include Sweden, Russia, and Wales. Sweden failed to reach the finals for the first time since Euro 1996 and also failed to qualify for their second major tournament in a row, having missed out on the 2022 World Cup. Russia, who were regulars at finals since Euro 2000, were barred from the qualifiers altogether in the aftermath of the country's invasion of Ukraine, the first time a national team had been banned from the competition since FR Yugoslavia in 1992. Wales, who reached the knockout stages at the previous two editions, including the semi-finals at Euro 2016, lost to Poland on penalties in the play-offs. Having made their debut at the previous edition, North Macedonia and Finland failed to qualify for this edition.
^FR Yugoslavia were initially to appear in 1992 (after qualifying as Yugoslavia), but were replaced after being banned by the United Nations from all international sport.
Disqualification of Russia
At a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Hvar, Croatia, on 20 September 2022, it was confirmed that Russia would be excluded from qualifying for Euro 2024, all Russian teams having been suspended by UEFA following the country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, meaning they will not appear at the European Championship finals for the first time since 2000.[58][59][60][61]
Final draw
The championship trophy – The Henri Delaunay cup
The final tournament draw took place on 2 December 2023, 18:00 CET, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.[62] The teams were seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Hosts Germany were automatically seeded into pot 1, and they were placed in position A1. The three play-off winners were not known at the time of the draw, and the teams participating in those play-offs, scheduled to be held in March 2024, were placed into pot 4 for the draw.[63][64][65][66] The draw was disrupted by sexual noises whilst it was taking place, as the result of a prankster.[67][68]
Pot 1: Germany (Host), group winners ranked 1–5
Pot 2: Group winners ranked 6–10, group runner-up ranked 1 (6–11 overall)
Pot 3: Group runners-up ranked 2–7 (12–17 overall)
Pot 4: Group runners-up ranked 8–10 (18–20 overall), play-off winners A–C (identity unknown at the time of the draw)
UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 10 May 2022, which only included kick-off times for the opening match, semi-finals, and final.[69][70] The kick-off times for all other matches were announced on 2 December 2023 following the draw.[71][72]
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:[63]
Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams who are still level to determine their final rankings.[b] If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 10 will apply;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
If on the last round of the group stage, two teams who are facing each other are tied in points, goal difference and goals scored then they drew their match, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This criterion is not used if more than two teams had the same number of points.);
Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
Higher position in the European Qualifiers overall ranking, unless the comparison involves hosts Germany, in which case a drawing of lots will take place.
Notes
^ abcIdentity of the three play-off winners was unknown at the time of the draw.
^If there is a three-way tie on points, the application of the first three criteria may only break the tie for one of the teams, leaving the other two teams still tied. In this case, the tiebreaking procedure is resumed, from the beginning, for the two teams that are still tied.
First match(es) will be played: 14 June 2024. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Wins; 5) Lower disciplinary points total; 6) European Qualifiers overall ranking, or if hosts Germany are involved in the comparison, drawing of lots.[73]
In the knockout phase, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out.[63]
Countdown clock for UEFA Euro 2024 in front of Düsseldorf City Hall
Branding
The official logo was unveiled on 5 October 2021, during a ceremony at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The logo depicts the Henri Delaunay Trophy with 24 coloured slices around the trophy representing the 24 participating nations, and the ellipse reflects the shape of the Olympiastadion.[74] In addition, each of the ten host cities has their own unique logo, featuring the following local sights:[75]
The official slogan of the tournament is "United by Football. Vereint im Herzen Europas." The slogan was chosen to promote diversity and inclusion.[76]
Topps is the official sticker and trading card partner of the tournament, marking the end of Panini's association with UEFA which began in 1976.[97]
Symbols
Mascot
The official mascot "Albärt"
The official UEFA EURO 2024 mascot was unveiled on 20 June 2023 at the Germany vs Colombia international friendly in Gelsenkirchen.[98] The mascot is a teddy bear with shorts on.[99] A public vote was used to select the name of the mascot, with options being "Albärt", "Bärnardo", "Bärnheart" and "Herzi von Bär".[100] Results were made public on July 5, with mascot's name announced to be "Albärt", getting 32% of the votes.[101]
Match ball
Official replica-version of the match ball "Fussballliebe"
The official match ball of the tournament, "Fussballliebe", was unveiled by UEFA and Adidas on 15 November 2023.[102] Translated from the German as "Love of football", it features black wing shapes with red, blue, orange and green edges and curves to showcase the qualified nations' vibrancy to the tournament, and the love that fans around the world give to football. Created with sustainable organic materials, this is the first ball for a UEFA European Championship to feature "Connected Ball Technology", where it contains internal electronic sensors, allowing detection of its movement for UEFA match officials to use to assist in decision-making.[103]
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