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. The tournament will comprise 24 teams, with Georgia the only team making its European Championship finals debut.
It will be the third time that European Championship matches are played on German territory and the second time in reunified Germany, as 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][2] 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.[4][5]
The host was selected on 27 September 2018 in Nyon, Switzerland.[10][12][13] Germany initially planned to fully host Euro 2020 although never announced any firm interest by May 2012.[14]
Voting results
Country
Votes
Germany
12
Turkey
4
Abstention
1
Total
17
Venues
Germany had a wide choice of stadiums that satisfied UEFA's minimum capacity requirement of 30,000 seats for European Championship matches.[15]
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.[20]
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.[43] 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.[44] The draw for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage was held on 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle in Frankfurt.[45][46] The qualifying group stage took place from March to November 2023, while the three play-offs were held in March 2024.[47]
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 2022 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.[48]
Albania and Romania returned after missing out on Euro 2020, 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 since Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations, and Slovenia qualifying for their fourth major tournament as an independent nation.[49][50]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.[51]
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, reaffirming the suspension of all Russian teams following the country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and making this the first European Championship finals Russia would miss since 2000.[56][57][58][59]
Final draw
The final tournament draw took place on 2 December 2023, 18:00 CET, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.[60] 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.[61][62][63][64] The draw was disrupted by sexual noises whilst it was taking place, as the result of a prankster.[65][66]
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)
The maximum squad size of the teams was increased from the original quota of 23 to 26 players. Teams must provide the list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26 by the deadline of 7 June.[67]
Match officials
In April 2024, 19 refereeing teams were selected to take charge of the 51 matches at the tournament, including an Argentine team selected as part of a co-operation agreement between the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations.[68][69]
In addition, UEFA announced twenty video match officials and twelve support match officials (who will act as fourth official or reserve assistant referee).[69]
UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 10 May 2022, which only included kick-off times for the opening match, semi-finals, and final.[70][71] The kick-off times for all other matches were announced on 2 December 2023 following the draw.[72][73]
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:[61]
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.[a] 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
^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.[74]
In the knockout stage, 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.[61]
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.[75] In addition, each of the ten host cities has their own unique logo, featuring the following local sights:[76]
The official slogan of the tournament is "United by Football. Vereint im Herzen Europas." The slogan was chosen to promote diversity and inclusion.[77]
From Euro 2024, Fanatics will be controlling the e-commerce, event retail and licensing of UEFA National Team competitions until Euro 2028.[79]
Topps, also owned by Fanatics, is the official sticker and trading card partner of the tournament, marking the end of Panini's association with UEFA which began in 1976.[80]
Official song
In December 2023, Italian DJ group Meduza, American pop band OneRepublic and German singer Kim Petras were all announced as the official music artists of the tournament.[81] However, in March 2024, it was announced that Petras had withdrawn from production due to scheduling issues, and was replaced by German singer Leony.[82] The official song, "Fire", was released on 10 May 2024.[83]
The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) will be located at the halls of the Leipzig Trade Fair in Leipzig, Germany.[84]
Unlike the previous two tournaments, UEFA has discontinued 4Kultra-high-definition broadcasts due to technical constraints, and amid lukewarm interest in the format among European broadcasters in comparison to high-dynamic-range (HDR) color.[85]
Sponsorship
UEFA will use virtual advertising for the first time in the history of Euros, having three different types of sponsorship besides the Global sponsors, one pack for Germany, one for the US and another for the Chinese market.[86]
The official UEFA Euro 2024 mascot was unveiled on 20 June 2023 at the Germany vs. Colombia international friendly in Gelsenkirchen.[105] The mascot is a teddy bear with shorts on.[106] A public vote was used to select the name of the mascot, with options being "Albärt", "Bärnardo", "Bärnheart" and "Herzi von Bär".[107] Results were made public on 5 July, with mascot's name announced to be "Albärt", getting 32% of the votes.[108]
Match ball
The official match ball of the tournament, "Fussballliebe", was unveiled by UEFA and Adidas on 15 November 2023.[109] 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[citation needed], this is the first ball for a UEFA Euro 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.[110]
^"EURO 2024 an Rhein und Ruhr". nrw.de (in German). North Rhine-Westphalia State Government. 27 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"EURO 2024 play-offs: How they work". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 27 September 2022. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
^ ab"Referees and assistant referees"(PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 April 2024. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
^"UEFA Euro 2024 match schedule"(PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 10 May 2022. Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
^"UEFA Euro 2024 match schedule"(PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2023. Archived(PDF) from the original on 31 January 2024. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
^UEFA.com (2 December 2023). "Meduza, OneRepublic and Kim Petras announced as UEFA EURO 2024's official music artists | UEFA EURO 2024". UEFA.com. Retrieved 21 May 2024. on 20 March 2024 it was announced that due to unforeseen scheduling issues Kim Petras could no longer be part of the production of the official UEFA EURO 2024 song. Instead, German singer and songwriter Leony was announced as an official UEFA EURO 2024 music artist, who together with Italian producers Meduza and American pop-rock trailblazers OneRepublic will perform the official tournament song.
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