England in Germany conjures memories of Baden-Baden and Wags but….oh, Gareth Southgate seems to be wise to all that.
Alun Pugh gets in touch: “I’m in Karlsruhe for the Bundesliga 2 game against Rostock tomorrow and looking forward to knowing who we are playing next summer after we’ve disposed of the trifling matter of the playoffs. No draw coverage is complete without the obligatory cliche “group of death”. Hope you will put this right soon.”
All in good time.
Simon McMahon, from Caledonia, reports: “Hi John. After such a long drought, and even with a Covid affected return to tournament football in 2021, I’ll take anybody. Though I’d rather avoid England. And France. Germany too. Probably Hungary and Turkey best avoided. Then there’s Italy. Switzerland. Maybe one or two others. So, as I say, I’ll take anybody. Bring them on!”
At this juncture, it’s time to speculate over what the best draw England and Scotland could get.
On ranking: England toughest would be: Denmark (19th), Netherlands (6th), Italy (9th).
England’s easiest: Albania (62nd), Slovenia (54th), playoff winner that isn’t Ukraine or Wales.
Scotland’s toughest: France (2nd), Denmark (19th), Italy (9th).
Scotland’s easiest: Germany (16th), Albania (59th), playoff winner that isn’t Ukraine or Wales.
If Wales were to qualify, there’s still the possibility that England, Scotland and Wales could be drawn together.
Nick Ames spoke to tournament director and occasional Guardian columnist Philipp Lahm.
Football should be about more than just earning money. It’s for children, adolescents, lovers of the amateur game, culture, the fans. I would always give a tournament to a democratic country. We must make sure we use next summer to strengthen ourselves, to strengthen Europe.
There’s been cause for celebration in Germany. Their men’s (boys’) team lifted the U17 World Cup today.
Dates for the diary
14 June Opening game at Munich’s Allianz Arena – Germany versus A2.
29 June The knockout stage begins
9-10 July Semi-finals
14 July The final, Berlin
Entertainment on show: “From 5pm GMT today in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie hall. Hosts are Pedro Pinto and Esther Sedlaczek; music comes from tenor Jonas Kaufmann, violinist David Garrett and three ensembles.”
Further housekeeping: Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dortmund, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf are the host cities.
And as for those playoffs, to be played in March:
Semi-finals – Path A: Poland vs Estonia, Wales vs Finland
Semi-finals – Path B: Israel vs Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Ukraine
Semi-finals – Path C: Georgia vs Luxembourg, Greece vs Kazakhstan
Final – Path A: Wales/Finland vs Poland/Estonia
Final – Path B: Bosnia-Herzegovina/Ukraine vs Israel/Iceland
Final – Path C: Georgia/Luxembourg vs Greece/Kazakhstan
By six o’clock tonight UK time – these things can drag on, though we are told it will take 20 minutes of ball-pulling amid 50 minutes of hoopla – we will know who 21 of the 24 finalists will be playing and where. The playoffs don’t get sorted until March but no matter, there are Black Forest mansions to be booked for those already qualified.
How does the draw work? Well, here’s your pots:
Pot 1
Germany (hosts), Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England
Pot 2
Hungary, Türkiye, Romania, Denmark, Albania, Austria
Pot 3
Netherlands, Scotland. Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czechia
Pot 4
Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Play-off winner A, Play-off winner B, Play-off winner C
Hosts Germany are seeded in Pot 1 and automatically allocated to Group A in position A1
A further six pots (A, B, C, D, E, F) are required to draw the respective team’s position in each group. Pots B-F contain four balls each to represent the positions available in each group (eg B1, B2, B3 and B4). Pot A contains only three balls for the positions A2, A3 and A4 in Group A, since Germany will occupy position A1.
So that’s that.
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Euro 2024 group stage draw – live - The Guardian
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