Euro 2024: this is what you should know about the top European football tournament

The 24 best national teams in Europe will begin their fight this Friday to be crowned champions of Euro 2024. Germany - which beat Turkey's bid to host the competition in a vote called by UEFA on September 27, 2018 - will host the seventeenth edition of the continent's top tournament, which will be played across ten stadiums from June 14 to July 14.

Up to ten stadiums located in ten different cities will host the 51 matches that will be played in the Euro Cup. The venue where the two finalists will seek to add their name to the list of champions will be the Olympic Stadium in Berlin (with capacity for 74,475 spectators), while the semifinals will be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich (70,076) and at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund (65,851).

The host team, Germany, and Scotland will be in charge of playing the opening match this Friday at the Allianz Arena.

From the group stage to the final

The 24 teams will be divided into six groups in the first phase of the Euro Cup. Each of them will face the other three that they share a group with, playing a single match against each one:

At the end of the group stage, the two best national teams in each group and the four best third parties will advance to round 16, which will begin on June 29. This round will be a direct showdown, the same as in the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the final.

Euro Cup honors

Italy is the current champion of the Euro Cup after triumphing in the last edition held in 2021 - it was scheduled for 2020, but was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic - in ten different countries (England, Russia, Azerbaijan, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Scotland and Spain).

With that title, Italy added the second European Championship to its record. It is one of the ten countries to be included in the list of champions, with Spain and Germany being the most successful national teams:

France, England and Germany, fan favorites

Experts have many doubts that Italy will maintain its reign and add its name to the record for the third time. There are other national teams that have much more favorable forecasts.

The clear contender is France. Experts see the French team with a high probability of reaching the top of the podium in this Euro Cup. Players like Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé will lead the squad led by Didier Deschamps. Many of those selected for this Euro Cup won the 2018 World Cup, so they have the necessary experience to face decisive moments.

Apart from France, the other two teams that have a greater degree of favoritism are Germany and England. The hosts have the 'court factor', that is, they will have the public on their side. They attend the event with a mix of veteran players - such as Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer or Thomas Muller - and young players - such as Jamal Musiala or Florian Wirtz -.

For their part, the English finished as runner-up in 2020, losing on penalties to Italy. Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane will lead a national team that is seeking its first European Championship.

Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium are other national teams to take into account.