PUNCH Online reports that the UEFA EURO 2024 kicks off in Munich, Germany, on Friday, June 14, and ends with the final in Berlin on Sunday, July 14, 2024.
Germany, in 2018, won the race to host the 2024 European Championship as UEFA backed a bid seen as safer than the rival Turkish proposal.
Amidst a backdrop of exhilarating clashes and dramatic showdowns, the European football landscape braces itself for the culmination of this gripping qualification phase.
As the dust settles from the semi-finals held on March 21, attention shifts to the impending finals scheduled for March 26, where fate will be decided in electrifying encounters.
Here is a look into the workings of these play-offs, the state of play, and what awaits the triumphant teams on the grand stage of EURO 2024.
Six teams out of 12 remain in March’s UEFA EURO 2024 play-offs, with three last-minute tickets to the final tournament up for grabs.
Meanwhile, the six semi-finals took place on March 21, with the winners advancing to three finals on March 26, The three winning teams in those games complete the 24-team EURO finals line-up.
What are the play-off results and fixtures?
Semi-finals (March 21)
Path A: Poland 5-1 Estonia, Wales 4-1 Finland
Path B: Israel 1-4 Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-2 Ukraine
Path C: Georgia 2-0 Luxembourg, Greece 5-0 Kazakhstan
Finals ( March 26)
Path A: Wales vs. Poland (20:45 CET)
Path B: Ukraine vs. Iceland (20:45 CET)
Path C: Georgia vs. Greece (18:00 CET)
On December 2, 2023, the draws for the UEFA EURO 2024 six groups were held with reigning champions Italy placed in the same group as Spain, France coming up against the Netherlands and England avoiding any of the toughest opponents.
Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland
Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania
Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England
Group D: Play-Off Winner Path A, Netherlands, Austria, France
Group E: Slovakia, Romania, Play-Off Winner Path B
Group F: Türkiye, Play-Off Winner Path C, Portugal, Czechia
According to the UEFA website, the play-offs are all single-leg knockout matches. If ties are level at the end of normal time, they’ll go to extra time and, if required, a penalty shoot-out.
Are the play-offs new?
There have been play-offs for six of the last seven EUROs. The UEFA EURO 2020 play-offs offered a different format, though.
However, for the first time, teams had to come through more than one round and, unlike all previous editions, sides qualified to participate via the Nations League rather than the European Qualifiers.
The same format was employed for the European play-offs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup (though, in that case, only two Nations League teams qualified for the play-offs together with ten European Qualifiers group runners-up), and therefore this is now the third time that single-leg matches will be used.
