Euro 2024 qualifying draw: England grouped with Italy | Football News


England will face Italy and Ukraine in their Euro 2024 qualifying group.

Defending champions Italy and England met in the final of Euro 2020 but have now been pitted against each other in their bid to qualify for the tournament in Germany. North Macedonia, who prevented Roberto Mancini’s side from reaching the World Cup, will also feature in Group C.

The top two countries from each group – seven of which include just five countries – will qualify.

Scotland have been grouped with Spain and Norway while Wales will face Croatia.

But the Republic of Ireland seemingly face a tough challenge after being drawn with Netherlands and France.

Two teams from each of the three groups with six countries will also qualify for Euro 2024.

Northern Ireland, also in a six-country group, will play Denmark, Finland and Slovenia.

Germany, as hosts, have qualified automatically for the tournament while three countries will qualify from the play-offs.

The qualifiers start in March and will conclude next November.

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Wales manager Rob Page admits he is ‘pretty happy’ with the qualifying group for Euro 2024

The Euro 2024 qualifying groups

Group A: Spain, Scotland, Norway, Georgia, Cyprus.

Group B: Netherlands, France, Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar.

Group C: Italy, England, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Malta.

Group D: Croatia, Wales, Armenia, Turkey, Latvia.

Group E: Poland, Czech Republic, Albania, Faroe Islands, Moldova.

Group F: Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Estonia.

Group G: Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Lithuania.

Group H: Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland, San Marino.

Group I: Switzerland, Israel, Romania, Kosovo, Belarus, Andorra.

Group J: Portugal, Bosnia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Liechtenstein.

Who qualifies for Euro 2024?

Two teams – the group winners and runners-up – will qualify automatically from each of the 10 groups.

Three teams will then qualify via the play-offs.

Germany, as hosts, are the only country currently certain to be one of the 24 nations in action at next summer’s tournament.

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Italy manager Roberto Mancini is looking forward to resuming his team’s rivalry with England

What are the key Euro 2024 dates?

The first round of qualifiers takes place between March 23-25 2023, while the final matches are on November 19-21 2023.

However, the four Nations League finalists will not be in action on either matchday three or four as they will be competing in the finals of that tournament.

When are the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches?

  • 23-25/03/2023 Matchday 1
  • 26-28/03/2023 Matchday 2
  • 16-17/06/2023 Matchday 3
  • 19-20/06/2023 Matchday 4
  • 07-09/09/2023 Matchday 5
  • 10-12/09/2023 Matchday 6
  • 12-14/10/2023 Matchday 7
  • 15-17/10/2023 Matchday 8
  • 16-18/11/2023 Matchday 9
  • 19-21/11/2023 Matchday 10

What about the play-offs?

Each country that won their Nations League group make it automatically into the play-offs, unless they progress to the tournament itself by finishing in the top two of their qualifying group.

In that situation, the next best nation in the respective league will take their play-off place, with this decided by the following criteria: position in the group, points and goal difference.

The draw for the play-offs takes place in November 2023, with the play-off semi-finals and finals being played between March 21 and 26, 2024.

When is the tournament?

The final tournament draw will take place in December 2023 at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

The teams will be seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Germany will be automatically seeded into pot 1 as hosts, and placed in position A1.

The three play-off winners will not be known at the time of the draw but will be placed into pot 4 for the draw.

The opening game of Euro 2024 is June 14 2024 with the final taking place on July 14 2024 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin.

Who are the Euro 2024 hosts?

Germany, the team of the EURO 2024 host association, qualify automatically for the final tournament and therefore did not take part in the qualifying draw.





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