England and Scotland are among the contenders heading to Germany this summer for Euro 2024.
Here, the PA news agency answers some key questions ahead of the tournament.
Germany are hosts, so does home advantage make them favourites?
Their history and the fact they are hosting the finals will obviously mean Germany are in the conversation for sides who will be favoured to go far in the finals. But things have not been running too smoothly for Die Mannschaft in recent times and there are others who will be considered better shouts to lift the trophy. France and England are shorter odds and are arguably the teams to beat this summer, but the likes of Portugal, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands will fancy their chances, too.
Those are some big teams – that must mean all the best players in Europe will be taking part?
Not quite. Norway finished third in Group A during qualifying meaning Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard miss out. Scandinavian neighbours Sweden also failed to qualify so the likes of Alexander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski will be absent. There are still plenty of the continent’s elite heading to Germany, however, with Haaland the only European player of those nominated for the FIFA Best men’s player award in 2023 to be watching from home.
Is it just all the usual countries vying for glory, then?
While the bigger nations remain the usual suspects, there is some intrigue further down the seedings. Georgia have qualified for the European Championships for the first time and are the only debutants in Germany. Napoli forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will be the main threat and, while the majority of the squad are not household names, head coach Willy Sagnol was a World Cup runner-up with France in 2006 and won several major honours during a distinguished playing career. Serbia have qualified for the first time since becoming separated from Montenegro while Albania and Romania also made the grade having failed to reach Euro 2020.
What is the opening game and where will matches be played?
As hosts, Germany will kick off the finals when they face Group A rivals Scotland at the Allianz Arena in Munich on June 14. Other venues to stage matches include Schalke’s Veltins Arena, Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, home of Eintracht Frankfurt – the Deutsche Bank Park, Volkspark Stadium in Hamburg, Dusseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena, RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, MHP Arena in Stuttgart and RB Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena. The final will take place at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on July 14.
Where can I watch it?
Both BBC and ITV will again share the broadcast rights for the finals and the two channels have certainly built up their punditry teams ahead of the event. With almost as much fanfare as the squad announcements themselves, the growing list of names pits the channel’s respective coverage off against each other. Gary Lineker will once again be the lead anchor for the BBC and will be joined by the likes of former England captains Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, Brentford boss Thomas Frank, ex-West Ham, Everton and Manchester United manager David Moyes, recently retired England goalkeeper Joe Hart, 106-capped former England and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and all-time leading England women’s goalscorer Ellen White. ITV have also pulled out all the stops to compete with their rivals as Mark Pougatch fronts the main coverage alongside names such as Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou, Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl, ex-England internationals Ian Wright and Gary Neville, seven-time Premier League winner Roy Keane, former Scotland midfielder Graeme Souness and retired England Lionesses Eni Aluko and Karen Carney. Scotland’s opener against Germany is on ITV while England’s first outing against Serbia is on BBC One on June 16.
