Italy qualified for Euro 2024 by the skin of their teeth avoiding the playoff. Their title defense will likely face big obstacles right from the get-go. UEFA changed the criteria for the pools of the draw. They are no longer based on the FIFA ranking but on how the teams fared during the qualifiers, Sky informs.
Since the Azzurri did rather poorly, they are in the fourth and final one. They’ll be paired up with one of the favorites, perhaps two.
Germany, the host, Portugal, France, Belgium, and England are in the top pool. Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, Albania, Romania, and Austria form the second. The third one features the Netherlands, Scotland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Croatia. Italy are joined by Serbia, Switzerland, and the three teams that will prevail in the playoffs.
The group stage draw will take place on December 2nd. The final sides will be determined through a new tennis-style tournament between March 21st and 26th. Poland, Estonia, Wales, Finland, Ukraine, Iceland, Georgia, Luxemburg, Greece, and Kazakhstan earned access to it by finishing third in their respective groups and thanks to their previous performances in the Nations League.
Euro 2024 will kick off on June 14th and the final will take place in Berlin, where Italy lifted the World Cup back in 2006, exactly a month later.
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