Euro 2024: calendar, group composition, format and championship favorites

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The main football tournament of the year — the 17th European Championship — started on June 14. talks about everything you need to know about the format of Euro 2024, its participants and the main contenders for gold at the tournament in Germany.

2008 — SPAIN

2012 — SPAIN

2016 — PORTUGAL

2020 — ITALY

2024 — …

Group stage calendar
June 14 (Friday):

• 22:00*/Germany – Scotland — 5:1.

< br>June 15 (Saturday):

• 16:00/Hungary – Switzerland — 1:3;
• 19 :00/Spain – Croatia – 3:0;
• 22:00/Italy – Albania – 2:1.

June 16 (Sunday):

• 16:00/Poland — Netherlands — 1:2;
• 19:00/Slovenia — Denmark – 1:1;
• 22:00/Serbia – England – 0:1.

< br>June 17 (Monday):

• 16:00/Romania – Ukraine– 3:0;
• 19:00/Belgium – Slovakia– 0:1;
• 22:00/Austria – France — 0:1.

June 18 (Tuesday):< br>

• 19:00/Turkey — Georgia;
• 22:00/Portugal — Czech Republic.

June 19 (Wednesday):

• 16:00/Croatia – Albania;
• 19:00/Germany — Hungary;
• 22:00 /Scotland – Switzerland.

20 June (Thursday):

• 16:00/Slovenia — Serbia;
• 19:00/Denmark — England ;
• 22:00/Spain — Italy.

June 21 (Friday):

• 16:00/Slovakia — Ukraine;
• 19:00/Poland — Austria;
• 22:00/< strong>Netherlands — France.

June 22 (Saturday):

• 16:00/Georgia — Czech Republic;
• 19:00/Turkey – Portugal;
• 22:00/Belgium – Romania.

June 23 (Sunday):

• 22:00/< strong>Switzerland – Germany;
• 22:00/Scotland – Hungary.

June 24 (Monday):

• 22:00/Croatia – Italy;
• 22:00/Albania – Spain.

June 25 (Tuesday):

• 19:00/Netherlands — Austria< /strong>;
• 19:00/France — Poland;
• 22:00/England – Slovenia;
• 22:00/Denmark – Serbia.

• Berlin/Olympiastadion (accommodates 70 thousand fans);
• < strong>Dortmund/»BVB-Stadion» (66 thousand);
• Dusseldorf/»Dusseldorf Arena» ( 47 thousand);
• Hamburg/Volksparkstadion (50 thousand);
• Gelsenkirchen/»Arena AufSchalke» (50 thousand);
• Cologne/Cologne Stadium (47 thousand);
• < strong>Leipzig/Leipzig Stadium (42 thousand);
• Munich/Arena Munich (67 thousand);
• Frankfurt/Frankfurt Arena (46 thousand);
• Stuttgart/»Stuttgart Arena» (54 thousand).

br>Top 5 matches of the group stage
Germany – Scotland. We agree that a meeting can turn into a beating of guests, but the opening match is always atmospheric! Fans will be treated to a cool ceremony and a performance by the Bundesmannschaft, which, although not one of the tournament's ironclad favorites (preference is given to England and France), will still compete for home Euro gold. After the failure at the World Cup in Qatar, the Germans need to rehabilitate themselves — new coach Julian Nagelsmann faces a serious test.

Spain vs Italy< /strong>. A true Euro classic — for the fifth time in a row, the teams will meet at the European Championship. 2012 immediately comes to mind, when the Spaniards defeated the Italians in the final. And in 2021, the Azzurra squad won in a penalty shootout and made it to the final at Wembley, which became a triumph for Roberto Mancini’s players.

Denmark — England. In Group C we will see a remake of the second semi-final of Euro 2020, a meeting between the bronze and silver medalists of the previous championship. The Scandinavians will try to take revenge on the founders of football for their defeat in extra time (1:2) and punish for the sad end of the Danish fairy tale.

Netherlands vs France. The most important match for first place in Quartet D. The French, one of the main favorites of the tournament, against the nice team of Ronald Koeman — a great sign with slight nostalgia for 2008, when the “orange” destroyed the world vice-champions in the group with a score of 4:1.< br>

Ukraine – Belgium. By the same logic, the meeting between the Zhovto-Blakitny and the Red Devils was also included in the selection. The national teams are seen as the strongest participants in Group E, therefore, unless force majeure occurs, in the last round they will challenge for a place in the 1/8 finals from first place.

What will happen in the playoffs
The two strongest teams from each group advance to the 1/8 finals. Teams that take third place in the quartets will be included in the ranking, the top 4 of which will also go to the playoffs. Next, the Olympic system will come into play. There is no match for bronze — the losers in the semi-finals will become Euro bronze medalists.

• The 1/8 final stage will last from June 29 to July 2.
• The 1/4 final matches will be held 5 and July 6.
• The semi-finals will be played on July 9 and 10.

The decisive match of the tournament will take place on July 14 at Berlin. Starts at 22:00 Moscow time.

Who is the favorite of the tournament?
According to statistical service Opta, England are the favorites of the tournament — they have the highest chance of winning with a probability of 19.9%. The second was the finalist of the 2022 World Cup, the French team (19.1%), the third was the German team, which will play in their native walls (12.4%).

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Opta considers the Georgian national team (0.1%) to be the main outsider of the tournament. As for the Serbs and Ukrainians, their chances are assessed equally — 1%.

Why is Russia not among the participants?
In September 2022, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) did not allow our team to participate in the qualifying tournament for the European Championship, so Valery Karpin’s team had no chance of making it to Euro 2024.

Before this, in February 2022, the International Football Federation (FIFA) and UEFA suspended Russian teams and clubs from participating in international competitions for an indefinite period due to the military conflict in Ukraine.