The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament will be held in Germany and 24 teams will compete to be crowned European champions.
Italy are the defending champions of the title, having won the last edition by defeating England in the final on penalties.
The 2024 edition marks the tournament’s return to its usual four-year cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s everything you need to know about Euro 2024:
What are the key dates?
The month-long championship will begin on June 14 at the Munich Football Arena, with hosts Germany taking on Scotland.
The group stage runs until June 26th, with the knockout stage starting on June 29th. The final will be played on July 14th at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
This will be the first time that Germany will host the tournament since its unification in 1990. The 1988 edition was held in what was then West Germany.
Germany was chosen as the host country at a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, in 2018. Turkey was the only other country that applied to host the tournament.
Where is the tournament being held?
Ten locations were chosen for the tournament. Of these, nine were used when Germany hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Here are the host cities and stadiums:
Berlin: Olympiastadion Berlin (capacity: 71,000)
Colony: Cologne Stadium (43,000)
Dortmund: BVB Dortmund Stadium (62,000)
Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf Arena (47,000)
Frankfurt: Frankfurt Arena (47,000)
Gelsenkirchen: AufSchalke Arena (50,000)
Hamburg: Volksparkstadion Hamburg (49,000)
Leipzig: Leipzig Stadium (40,000)
Munich: Munich Football Arena (66,000)
Stuttgart: Stuttgart Arena (51,000)
Munich will host games for the second consecutive Euro, having been one of 11 venues that held games during Euro 2020.
How many teams are participating?
Twenty-four teams divided into six groups will participate in the tournament. There will be 51 matches in total.
Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland
Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania
Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England
Group D: Poland, Holland, Austria, France
Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine
Group F: Türkiye, Georgia, Portugal, Czech Republic
Georgia is the only team to make its debut in the European Championship finals, while Ukraine and Poland qualified through the playoffs.
Who are the favorites?
France, Germany, England, Portugal and Spain are among the leaders.
Portugal was the only team to win every game during the qualifying phase, while France and England were unbeaten and Spain lost just one game.
Germany is also considered one of the favorites to be the host, even though it had a disappointing performance in the 2022 World Cup.
Which top teams failed to qualify?
Sweden and Norway are the two big names that failed to qualify for Euro 2024. The Swedes did not progress to the Euros for the first time since 1996, while Norway have not played since 2000.
Failure to qualify means fans will miss out on the opportunity to watch top Premier League players such as Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and Alexander Isak in Germany.
What is the format of the tournament?
The two best teams in each group, along with the four best third-placed teams, will advance to the round of 16. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will follow.
The winner of Euro 2024 will compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL-UEFA Champions Cup against the winner of the 2024 Copa América.
How big is the squad?
European football’s governing body UEFA confirmed in May that the maximum squad size will increase from 23 to 26 players.
Teams were allowed to use 26-man squads at Euro 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, but UEFA initially planned to return to 23-man squads at Euro 2024.
Expanded teams were also allowed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because it was played in the middle of the national season.
Expanded squads are beneficial for coaches as clubs’ busy schedules create more risk of injury to players.
When should teams submit their rosters?
Participating countries had until 7 June to provide UEFA with a squad list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26.
You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all match build-up and live text commentary, and stay up to date with group standings and real-time results and match schedules.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
