What the European Championship draw brings: Hammer group or easy draw?
Over one million tickets have already been sold and more than 20 million applications have been received. Enthusiasm for the 2024 European Football Championship in Germany is already high. So far, fans don't even know who is playing against whom and when. That is now changing.
On Saturday, the tournament next summer (June 14 to July 14) will take shape with the draw for the preliminary round groups. The most important questions:
Where will the draw take place and who will be broadcasting it?
The draw will take place on Saturday (18:00) at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. ZDF, RTL and MagentaTV will broadcast live and the ceremony is expected to last around 50 minutes. The six preliminary round groups will be drawn, which will provide information about matches, venues and the rest of the tournament tree.
What are the possible groups for Germany?
European Championship semi-finalists Denmark, the Netherlands and defending champions Italy would probably be the most difficult group for Germany on paper. However, a doable task with Albania, Slovenia and a weaker play-off participant is also conceivable.
Possible opponents from pot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Albania, Austria
Possible opponents from pot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Possible opponents from pot 4: Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, play-off winner A, play-off winner B, play-off winner C
Who will the hosts avoid first?
The supposedly strongest rivals, as pot one with the struggling DFB team is excellently filled. France, England, Belgium, Spain and Portugal with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo are not options as Germany's opponents in the preliminary round. Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann's team will not face any of the other group leaders until the round of 16 at the earliest. World Cup runners-up France and England with Bayern's Harry Kane and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham are considered the tournament favorites.
Who are the three question marks?
Play-off winners A will be determined in March 2024 by Poland, Wales, Finland and Estonia. Play-off winner B will be decided between Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland and Ukraine. The candidates from play-off path C are Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan and Luxembourg. Tournaments with semi-finals and finals will be played. In the semi-finals, the teams ranked higher in the Nations League have the right to play at home. Home rights for the three finals have been drawn.
How does the draw work?
Germany is seeded A1 and will play the opening match in Munich and the other two preliminary round matches in Stuttgart and Frankfurt. A draw is not necessary. Pot 1 will then be drawn. The team drawn first goes into Group B, the following team into Group C and so on. There is then a draw for the position in the group. Unlike in previous draws, these teams are not automatically seeded as group leaders. The seeded teams such as France or Spain can also be B3 or F4, for example.
The first team drawn is the German opponent, but is then drawn for a group position (A2, A3 or A4). If A2 is drawn, it will be the opponent in the opening match on June 14 in Munich. The team subsequently drawn goes into Group B. This procedure will be repeated in pots 3 and 4. There are no restrictions for the draw. The exact dates of the matches will be finalized and published shortly after the draw.
Who draws the lots?
UEFA and the organizing committee are still keeping this a secret. Former professionals and tournament legends are usually involved in the draw. Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for example, Lothar Matthäus, Brazil's Cafu and the Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha were chosen as the lottery fairies.
Source: www.dpa.com
