European Cup 2024: qualifiers, rules and dates

The next Euro2024 European Football Championship will be played in Germany. The European qualifiers started in March 2023 and in this article we offer a complete guide on what will be the next European Championships. Where and when it’s played, how Euro2024 qualifying works: we explain everything you need to know. We also offer a complete picture of how the European Championship works: from the teams participating in the stadiums that will host the matches, from the groups to the ranking criteria, up to all the main rules of the tournament. On our website you will also find the complete guide on how the Champions League works. 

Euro2024, when it starts and when it ends

Euro2024 will start on 14 June 2024 with the opening match at the Allianz Arena in Munich with Germany on the field and will end on 14 July 2024 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

The European cup: weight and height of the trophy

The European Cup is officially called the ‘Henri Delaunay Cup’. This name is in honor of the first general secretary of UEFA and promoter of the first edition of the event. How much does the cup weigh? The trophy, up for grabs since the 2008 edition, is made of pure silver and weighs 12 kg. The height is 60cm.

Euro2024, the stadiums that will host the matches

After the 2020 European Championship, the first itinerant in history, the competition is once again hosted by a single nation: Germany. In this paragraph there are all the stadiums that will host the Euro2024 matches:

• Olympiastadion (Berlin)
• Allianz Arena (Munich)
• Signa Iduna Park (Dortmund)
• Veltins-Arena (Gelsenkirchen)
• Mercedes-Benz Arena (Stuttgart)
• Deutsche Ban Park (Frankfurt)
• Red Bull Arena (Leipzig)
• RheinEnergieStadion (Cologne)
• Merkur Spiel-Arena (Dusseldorf)
• Volksparkstadion di (Hamburg)

Why aren’t Germany playing in the European Qualifiers?

As with every European and World Cup, the teams hosting the tournament are automatically qualified. Germany, therefore, as host nation, is automatically qualified and does not play the Euro2024 qualifiers.

Euro2024 qualifiers, how they work

Many fans want to know exactly how qualifying for Euro2024 works. How many teams qualify? Who qualifies directly for the groups of the European Championships? Will there be playoffs? In this paragraph we explain all the rules of the European Qualifiers to understand how they work and which nations qualify for the group stage of Euro2024 in Germany.

Rules European Qualifiers, who goes to Euro2024

A total of 24 teams qualify for Euro2024 (23 from qualifiers plus already qualified Germany). 53 national teams participate in the European qualifiers (Russia was excluded due to the war in Ukraine), which are divided into 10 groups (seven of five and three of six). The first two of each group qualify directly for the group stage of the European Championship while the other three places will be played by 12 nations (decided on the basis of an overall ranking and results in the Nations League) in the playoffs scheduled for March 2024.

European Qualifiers Groups

Euro2024, who qualifies for the round of 16?

16 national teams out of the 24 total participants pass through to the round of 16. The top two in each group qualify for the knockout stage. Furthermore, the 4 best third-placed players also pass to the round of 16. In the following paragraphs, let’s take a look at the classification criteria in the group stage for the rankings of the relative groups, what happens in the case of two teams with the same points and how the third place classification works.

Groups Euro2024, the ranking criteria in order

What happens if two internationals have the same points in the group? Do the direct matches count or is the goal difference worth it let’s see how the placement in the standings is established with two or more teams with the same points.

Here is the order of the criteria for the classification if two or more teams are level on points:

• Points in direct matches
• Goal difference in direct matches
• Goals scored in direct matches

After applying these criteria, if there are still teams ‘tied’ the same criteria are re-applied but only between the teams in question. In the event of a further tie, the following criteria are used:

• Total goal difference
• Goals scored
• Best Fair Play Conduct (one point for each booking, three points for each sending off)
• Position in the ranking of qualifications

Be careful, however, there is a very particular rule that includes any penalties on the last round of the group stage. If two teams, with the same points and the same number of goals scored and conceded, play each other in the last match of the group and are still level on points at the end of the day, the final classification is settled with a penalty shoot-out. Penalties are expected only no other team in the group has the same points at the end of the group stage.

Roll of honor European Cup

Here is the roll of honor of the European football Cup, from the first edition in France in 1960 to the last European, the traveling one and played in 2021 instead of 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, won by Roberto Mancini’s Italy.  

• 2020: Italy
• 2016: Portugal
• 2012: Spain
• 2008: Spain
• 2004: Greece
• 2000: France
• 1996: Germany
• 1992: Denmark
• 1988: Netherlands
• 1984: France
• 1980: West Germany
• 1976: Czechoslovakia
• 1972: West Germany
• 1968: Italy
• 1964: Spain
• 1960: USSR