France, Spain handed tough groups for Euro '24

December 3, 2023 ndowd

The draw for next summer’s Euro 2024 in Germany took place Saturday and saw France and Spain handed difficult paths to the knockout stages.

A total of 21 teams have already qualified for the tournament, with a further three places still up for grabs through a playoff tournament to be played in March.

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France will play in Group D, where they will face Netherlands, Austria and the winners of Playoff A (Poland, Wales, Finland, Estonia).

Didier Deschamps’s side lifted the World Cup in 2018 and reached the final in 2022, but will hope to make amends from the last Euros, where they succumbed to a disappointing exit in the round of 16.

Spain, who won this tournament in 2008 and 2012, were drawn in Group B, but will also face a tough test after being drawn against reigning champions Italy and World Cup semifinalists Croatia. Albania make up the final team in the group.

England are still seeking their first major men’s title since 1966 — they finished runners-up after a penalty shootout defeat to Italy in the tournament’s previous edition in 2021 — and Gareth Southgate’s side were drawn in Group C alongside Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia.

“You always feel the same way. The games are not played on paper,” Southgate told reporters. “All of the teams we play are more than capable. I was really relaxed about all of it. You know the objective is to get out of the group.”

Germany have been in poor form this year, but were drawn out of Pot 1 into Group A as hosts of the tournament. They will kick off the tournament against Scotland, with further group matches against Hungary and Switzerland.

“They [Germany] will have to be ready for a lot of Scotsmen to come,” Scotland boss Steve Clarke said.

The tournament will begin June 14, with the final scheduled to be staged at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on July 14.

Earlier Saturday, UEFA announced the prize money for Euro 2024, in which the winner will collect an extra payout of €8 million ($8.70m) on top of their participation fee of €9.25m.

Teams will also receive a match bonus of €1m for wins and €500,000 for draws. There will be further rewards for teams that qualify for the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals.

“The amount for distribution to the participating teams is confirmed at the same level as for … Euro 2020, i.e. a total of €331m,” UEFA said.

“The maximum amount that the champion team may achieve, if they will have won all three of their group matches, is €28.25m.”

Information from Reuters was used in this report.