When is the Euro 2024 group-stage draw? Date, teams, pots and format explained

The first phase of qualification for Euro 2024 is done, so it is only natural that attention is turning towards the draw for next summer’s tournament.

The best international teams in Europe will arrive in Germany at the end of this domestic season hoping to lift the greatest international prize the continent has to offer.

But, first, they will have to find out their group-stage opponents.

When is the Euro 2024 draw?

The draw for Euro 2024 will take place on Saturday, December 2. The ceremony, taking place at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, is scheduled to start at 5pm GMT (6pm CET, 12pm ET, 9am PT).

It comes a little over six months before the first game of the tournament at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday, June 14. A month later, the final will be played at Berlin’s 74,000-seater Olympiastadion.

Is the Euro 2024 draw available to watch?

Yes, the draw will be streamed live on UEFA.com and on UEFA’s app. There will be a selection of broadcasters showing the draw, but they are yet to have been confirmed.

Who has qualified?

We already know 21 of the 24 teams that will play in Germany. In order of the groups they qualified from, the teams to have confirmed their place for next summer are:

Host nation: Germany
Group A: Spain, Scotland
Group B: France, Netherlands
Group C: England, Italy
Group D: Turkey, Croatia
Group E: Albania, Czech Republic
Group F: Belgium, Austria
Group G: Hungary, Serbia
Group H: Denmark, Slovenia
Group I: Romania, Switzerland
Group J: Portugal, Slovakia

What are the Euro 2024 pots?

And those teams have been put into pots that the draw will be made from. As usual, each group will be comprised of a team from each pot.

Pot 1: Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England
Pot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Albania, Austria
Pot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Pot 4: Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Play-off A winner, Play-off B winner, Play-off C winner

Pots confirmed for the #EURO2024 draw ✅
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) November 21, 2023

Which teams are in the play-offs and when will they be decided?

Ah yes, the play-offs. They will not be decided before the draw for the tournament is made, but we do know which teams are competing in them.

The final three places at Euro 2024 will be decided via the play-offs and they will be split between the three ‘paths’, so one place for Path A, one for Path B and — you guessed it — one for Path C.

There are four teams in each path and they will play the following one-legged semi-finals on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

Path A

Path B

Israel vs Iceland
Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Ukraine

Path C

Georgia vs Luxembourg
Greece vs Kazakhstan

The winners of each semi-final will move to the three finals, all played five days later on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.

The destinations of the finals were decided by a UEFA draw; the winner of Wales vs Finland will host the Path A final, the winner of Bosnia & Herzegovina will host the Path B final and the winner of Georgia vs Luxembourg will host the Path C final.

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Euro 2024 play-offs: All you need to know

What is the potential ‘Group of Death’?

As always at the European Championship, the chance of a ‘Group of Death’ being drawn is high.

At the last tournament, France, Germany and Portugal were drawn alongside each other. It came eight years after Germany and Portugal were handed an equally tough draw, joining Netherlands in Group B at Euro 2012.

The Dutch did not pick up a point in that group and they face the prospect of another nightmare draw this time around as they are the headline act, alongside perennial tournament challengers Croatia, in Pot 3.

A talented Netherlands squad left Euro 2012 without picking up a point (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

And it is hardly any easier in Pot 4 where European champions Italy are lurking, as are 14th-ranked Switzerland who made the knockouts at the 2022 World Cup.

Fortunately, for those teams, Pot 2 looks more tame than fans might have been expecting with Denmark (19) being the highest-ranked representative according to FIFA.

That means the Danes are part of the toughest possible group that could be drawn, based on the FIFA rankings:

France (2), Denmark (19), Netherlands (7), Italy (9).

What is the Euro 2024 format?

Among other things, you might have noticed that there are 24 teams at Euro 2024, 12 fewer than at the World Cup. And that complicates the format somewhat.

The draw will produce six four-team groups and the top two teams in those groups will will automatically qualify for the last 16.

There, they will be joined by the four best third-place teams. They will be the four third-place teams that accumulate the most points during the group stage. Where level on points, the decision will be made by:

Higher goal difference
Higher number of goals scored
Higher number of wins
Lower disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card = 3 points, two yellow cards in one match = 3 points)
Position in European qualifiers rankings (or if Germany are involved, drawing of lots)

(Top photo: Getty Images)