France and the Netherlands will face each other again in the Euro 2024 in Munich, following the draw on Saturday, in Group D alongside Austria and the winner of playoff A. Hosts Germany will face Scotland in the opening match, while defending champions Italy have been drawn in the same group as Spain.
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Germany, three-time winners, will kick off the one-month tournament in Munich on June 14, with the final on July 14 in Berlin’s Olympic stadium.
The draw was held at the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, one of the 10 host cities of the tournament.
Germany will also face Hungary and Switzerland in Group A.
Italy face a tough task in defending their title, drawn in Group B where they will face Spain, Croatia and Albania. Italy defeated Spain on penalties in the semi-final on their way to winning Euro 2020, but lost 4-0 to Spain in the 2012 final. Croatia reached the semi-final stage of the last World Cup.
France and the Netherlands will meet again after coming through the qualifying in the same group, drawn in Group D alongside Austria and the winners of playoff A. France, who won both games against the Dutch on their way to topping the qualifying group, kick off their Euro 2024 campaign against Austria in Duesseldorf.
The Netherlands must wait for the playoffs in March to find out who their opening opponents will be – Poland, Wales, Finland or Estonia.
England, runners-up at Euro 2020, are in Group C alongside Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia. England, who needed extra time to see off Denmark in the 2020 semi-finals, start the tournament against Serbia.
In Group E, Belgium face Romania, Slovakia and the winners of playoff B, Israel, Bosnia, Ukraine or Iceland.
Portugal are in Group F, alongside Turkey, Czech Republic and the playoff C winners, one of Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan or Luxembourg, who finished third in Portugal’s qualifying group.
The top two in each of the six Euro 2024 groups proceed to the round of 16 along with the four best third-place finishers.
Unexplained noises
The draw ceremony for the European Championship in men’s soccer was disrupted by unexplained noises that competed for attention with the team names being read out on stage on Saturday.
The interruption, which seemed to sound like sexual noises, was clearly heard for several minutes on the ceremony broadcast from a concert hall in Hamburg.
UEFA director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti noted the noise in his commentary before continuing with the draw for the last six places for lower-ranked teams in the 24-nation tournament lineup. The sound continued sporadically until the draw was completed.
Similar noises disrupted a BBC live broadcast of an English soccer game in January between Wolverhampton and Liverpool. It turned out to be a prank use of a mobile phone next to the studio.
Full draw for Euro 2024:
- Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland
- Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania
- Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England
- Group D: Playoff winner A, Netherlands, Austria, France
- Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, playoff winner B
- Group F: Turkey, playoff winner C, Portugal, Czech Republic
- Teams in playoff path A: Poland, Estonia, Wales, Finland
- Teams in playoff path B: Israel, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine
- Teams in playoff path C: Georgia, Luxembourg, Greece, Kazakhstan
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters & AP)
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