Saturday afternoon saw the completion of the Euro 2024 group stage draw, with the competing nations finding out who they will face in the preliminary stage of the tournament.
Germany will play host to the event after the 2020 edition saw the competition travel around the continent to celebrate a UEFA centenary.
With most fans preferring as single host-nation in order to confidently book their travel, travel packages will now go on sale with teams likely to press forward with their accommodation plans after the draw.
Spain enter Euro 2024 with the success of the women’s team firmly at the forefront of their mind, with the subsequent controversy having infiltrated all areas of the federation.
Luis Enrique is no longer the coach, and the team aren’t necessarily seen as one of the favorites to win the tournament.
England fans hopeful after straightforward group draw
One of the more peculiar aspects of international tournaments has been the development of the England national team under Gareth Southgate.
After underachieving for years, it’s now widely accepted that England stand alongside France as the team with the best individual talent heading into tournaments, whether that be the World Cup or European Championships.
The reality is that a group consisting of England, Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia should be relatively straightforward for Southgate’s charges, especially with Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham set to play a starring role.
France expect to reach a third successive international final with Kylian Mbappe leading their attack, and they too will hope for a fairly easy path through to the knockout stage.
They have been preliminarily drawn alongside Austria and the Netherlands, both teams they should beat, whilst the winner of play-off A will join the group. This could potentially be Wales.
Germany will seek to recapture the mood of 2006, when a wonderful home crowd almost propelled a lesser talented home side to the final of the World Cup on home soil. Julian Nagelsmann’s first tournament in charge will see him take a team that lacks the usual quality of German football, but they have the advantage of being the hosts.
A group consisting of Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and tournament novices, Scotland, should be easy enough for a team that is trying to return to their heights they reached between 2010-2014.
The full Euro 2024 groups are as follows:
Group A: Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland
Group B: Spain, Albania, Croatia, Italy
Group C: England, Denmark, Slovenia, Serbia
Group D: France, Austria, Netherlands, (Winner of Play-Off A)
Group E: Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, (Winner of Play-Off B)
Group F: Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic, (Winner of Play-off C)