European Championship 2024 - The day of the balls: How the European Championship draw is going for Nagelsmann
The legend of Germany's luck of the draw for major tournaments, which prevailed in earlier soccer times, has long been a thing of the past.
When the preliminary round groups for the home European Championship 2024 are drawn in Hamburg on Saturday (18:00/RTL, ZDF and Magenta TV), national coach Julian Nagelsmann and the national team could be hit hard with the constellation of Denmark, Holland and Italy. But a supposedly easy combination of opponents with Romania, Slovenia and Serbia is also possible. Nagelsmann has already said that the "charm" of the draw is that you don't know how it will turn out.
Final as a run-up
Nagelsmann will shorten the wait for the big draw show in the Elbphilharmonie with a soccer match on TV. Together with DFB sports director Rudi Völler, the national coach will watch the World Cup final of the German U17 juniors against France in faraway Indonesia at the hotel in Hamburg on Saturday (13:00/RTL/Sky). A title win for the youngsters would be a fine omen.
Celebrity carpet
No gala without a VIP carpet. At the Elbphilharmonie, everything is ready for the arrival of the who's who of European soccer. Nagelsmann, Völler, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and Tournament Director Philipp Lahm will also make their way to the glamorous draw location this way, but with a quick step. Sub-zero temperatures are also forecast for Hamburg on Saturday.
Music
This place sounds. Before the tickets are drawn, there will of course be music. Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann and star violinist David Garrett perform with the National Youth Orchestra, the National Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Choir in the Elbphilharmonie.
The main act
The show lasts 50 minutes and is presented by sports presenters Pedro Pinto and Esther Sedlaczek. The actual drawing of lots takes a whole 20 minutes. The draw fairies are former European champions - the names are not yet public.
Germany is seeded first in Group A. The five other teams from pot 1 will be drawn into groups B to F in turn. For each team, positions 1 to 4 will also be determined within the group. This is important for the order of the fixtures. If pot 1 is empty, pots 2, 3 and 4 follow.
The draw pots:
Pot 1: Germany (seeded as A1), Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, EnglandPot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, Albania, Romania, AustriaPot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech RepublicPot 4:Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, winner of play-off A*, winner of play-off B**, winner of play-off C***
* Poland, Estonia, Wales or Finland ** Israel, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Ukraine *** Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan or Luxembourg
The after-show
UEFA is not throwing a party in the traditional sense. But for Nagelsmann there will be a lot of work to do. The next few days will be spent planning the tournament. Four test opponents must be announced and the training camp at the end of May, beginning of June must be fixed. "We will use the following months to prepare meticulously for the group opponents," promised Nagelsmann.
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Source: www.stern.de
