Next summer’s UEFA European Championships will be held in Germany. With the host nation receiving an automatic qualification spot, 23 spots in the competition were left up for grabs.
Most of those places were settled in November 2023, when the main qualification stage for the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament came to an end after 230 matches. Qualification consisted of 10 groups, with two automatic qualification places available in each.
When all the dust settled, 20 of the remaining 23 open spots were filled, with the likes of England, France, and Spain all safely making it through.
Now, if you are a fan of sports betting, you can see that Euro Championship predictions, with most of the places filled, have taken on a much clearer shape. Here we look at which teams have reached the Euro 2024 Finals, and which teams still have a second bite of the cherry at claiming one of the remaining three open places.
The Euro 2024 Favourites
None of the big nations who are expected to be in the mix for the Euro 2024 title had any trouble getting through their respective qualification groups. France, England, Portugal and Belgium all got through without suffering a single defeat, for example.
Spain topped Group A of Euro 2024 qualification after overcoming the setback of a loss against Scotland along the way. But they made it and therefore all leading nations including reigning champions Italy are all heading to the tournament.
The current landscape at the bookmakers for Euro 2024 betting sees England, who were runners-up at the last European Championships, as one of the main favourites for success next summer, alongside Kylian Mbappé’s France.
2024 European Championship Qualified Teams
Host Nation: Germany
Group Winners: Spain, France, England, Turkey, Albania, Belgium, Hungary, Denmark, Romania, Portugal
Group Runners Up: Scotland, Netherlands, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Austria, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland
Some Qualification Surprises
There were some surprises along the way in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. A brilliantly resurgent and positive Scotland, for example, took second place behind Spain in their group after a strong campaign.
Only suffering one loss in their ten matches, Scotland comfortably finished as runners-up, well ahead of Norway. That means that it will be another major international tournament that Erling Haaland misses, as he did for the 2022 FIFA World Cup when Norway failed to qualify.
Albania were one of the surprise packages of Euro 2024 qualification, as they topped Group E. They did enough to seal the top spot because of a better head-to-head points record against runners-up Czech Republic. Albania’s great performance meant that, surprisingly, Poland didn’t automatically qualify.
In Group F, Belgium were challenged hard for the top spot by a surprisingly good Austria. Austria only finished a point behind the Red Devils, so will be making the short journey to Germany next summer. But Sweden were surprisingly a long way short of quality, finishing well out of the running and won’t be going to the Finals.
The Reigning Champions
Italy are the reigning European champions. But their Euro 2024 qualification campaign was far from plain sailing. Italy left it as late as they could have possibly done to secure a place in Germany next summer, and only just squeezed through.
The Italians faced Ukraine in the final round of qualification matches. Level with Ukraine on points going into the match, Italy held out for a dogged 0-0 draw. That was just enough for the Azzurri to see them qualify because of the better head-to-head points record, having beaten Ukraine earlier in the group.
The Final 3 Euro 2024 Qualification Places
Qualification for Euro 2024 is not done. Twelve teams who didn’t qualify automatically from the group stage took a spot in the playoff draw (called Paths) based on their performances at the last edition of the UEFA Nations League.
Path A: Poland, Wales, Finland, Estonia
Path A Semi-finals: Poland v Estonia, Wales v Finland
Path B: Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Iceland
Path B Semi-finals: Israel v Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina v Ukraine
Path C: Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg
Path C Semi-finals: Georgia v Luxembourg, Greece vs Kazakhstan
The semi-final winners of each path will then meet in the Final. The winners of the Path A, Path B and Path C Playoff Finals will fill the remaining spots at Euro 2024.
The playoff qualification matches are not played until late March 2024, just three months before the start of the 2024 European Championships.
