Daftar Peserta Piala Asia 2024 & Pembagian Grup
Piala Asia 2024 bakal diikuti oleh 24 negara terbaik Asia yang lolos dari babak kualifikasi. Bahkan, Qatar, yang menjadi tuan rumah juga menjalani kualifikasi. Psalnya, pada awalnya, jatah tuan rumah diberikan ke China.
Sementara itu, China yang kehilangan status tuan rumah tetap lolos ke putaran final. Mereka sebelumnya melaju hingga ronde ke-3 kualifikasi Piala Dunia 2022 Zona AFC, sebagai syarat lolos otomatis ke Piala Asia 2024.
Total, terdapat 12 tim yang lolos ke Piala Asia 2024 via jalur ronde ke-3 kualifikasi Piala Dunia 2022. Sementara 12 tim lainnya mengikuti kualifikasi Piala Asia 2024, dan lolos ke putaran final, termasuk Indonesia, Malaysia dan Thailand.
Tim-tim peserta Piala Asia 2024 bakal bersaing dari babak penyisihan grup hingga final. Mereka bakal bekerja keras untuk meraih gelar juara yang di edisi 2019 diraih oleh Qatar. Sementara itu, Jepang masih menjadi tim paling sukses dengan total meraih 4 trofi.
Pada Piala Asia 2024, tim yang lolos ke putaran final sudah dibagi ke dalam 6 grup. Mereka bakal bersaing di babak grup untuk memperebutkan 2 posisi teratas. Hal itu menjadi syarat tim lolos otomatis ke babak 16 besar. Selain itu, ada juga 4 tempat untuk 4 peringkat 3 terbaik dari 6 grup.
Salah satu tim yang bakal berjuang di Piala Asia 2024 adalah Timnas Indonesia, yang lolos pertama kali sejak tahun 2007. Garuda diharapkan mampu melaju jauh di putaran final dan lolos ke fase knock out. Dalam 4 edisi terdahulu, Timnas Indonesia selalu mentok gugur di babak penyisihan grup.
Berikut ini adalah daftar lengkap 24 tim peserta Piala Asia 2024 di Qatar.
Kontributor: Permadi SuntamaPenulis: Permadi SuntamaEditor: Fitra Firdaus
International football competition
The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Euro 2024 final tournament. The competition was linked with the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League, which gave countries a secondary route to qualify for the final tournament.[1]
A total of 53 UEFA member associations entered the qualifying process. The draw for the qualifying group stage took place at the Festhalle in Frankfurt on 9 October 2022.[2]
Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2024
Team failed to qualify
Team banned from competition
The format was similar to the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying competition: the group stage decided 20 of the 23 teams that would advance to the final tournament to join host Germany. The 53 UEFA member associations were divided into ten groups, with seven groups containing five teams and three containing six teams. The draw for the qualifying group stage took place on 9 October 2022,[2] after conclusion of the league phase of the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League. The four UEFA Nations League Finals participants were drawn into groups of five teams (so they were able to compete in the Nations League Finals in June 2023). The qualifying group stage was played in a home-and-away, round-robin format on double matchdays in March, June, September, October, and November 2023. The winners and runners-up from the ten groups qualified directly to the final tournament.[7]
Following the qualifying group stage, the remaining three teams were decided through the play-offs, held in March 2024. Twelve teams were selected based entirely on their performance in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League. These teams were divided into three paths, each containing four teams, with one team from each path qualifying for the final tournament. The group winners of Nations Leagues A, B, and C automatically qualified for the play-off path of their league, unless they qualified for the final tournament via the qualifying group stage. If a group winner had already qualified through the qualifying group stage, they would be replaced by the next best-ranked team in the same league. However, if there were not enough non-qualified teams in the same league, then the spot would go first to the best-ranked group winner of League D, unless that team had already qualified for the final tournament. The remaining slots were then allocated to the next best team in the Nations League overall ranking. However, group winners of Leagues B and C could not face teams from a higher league.
The three play-off paths each featured two single-leg semi-finals, and one single-leg final. In the semi-finals, the best-ranked team hosted the lowest-ranked team, and the second-ranked team hosted the third-ranked team. The host of the final was drawn between the winners of the semi-final pairings. The three play-off path winners joined the twenty teams that already qualified for the final tournament through the group stage.[8]
Controversies and incidents
Criteria for overall ranking
To determine the overall rankings of the European Qualifiers, results against teams in sixth place were discarded and the following criteria were applied:[8]
Below was the schedule of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.[9]
The qualifying group stage draw was held on 9 October 2022, 12:00 CEST,[12] at the Festhalle in Frankfurt.[2][13][14][15] Of UEFA's 55 member associations, 53 compete in the qualifying competition. Host team Germany qualified directly to the final tournament, while it was confirmed on 20 September 2022 that Russia were ineligible due to the suspension from FIFA and UEFA competitions.[16]
The 53 UEFA national teams were seeded into six pots based on the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League overall ranking following the conclusion of the league phase. The four participants of the 2023 UEFA Nations League Finals were placed into the UNL Pot and drawn into Groups A–D, which only had five teams, so that they only had to play eight qualifying matches, leaving two free matchdays to play in the Nations League Finals in June 2023. The next six-highest teams were then placed into Pot 1. If Germany had won their Nations League group, the UNL Pot would have contained three teams, and Pot 1 would have instead contained seven teams. Pots 2 to 5 contained ten teams, while Pot 6 contained the three lowest-ranked teams. The teams were drawn into ten groups: seven groups of five teams (Groups A–G) and three groups of six teams (Groups H–J). The draw started with the UNL Pot and Pot 1, and continued from Pot 2 to Pot 6, from where a team was drawn and assigned to the first available group (based on draw conditions) in alphabetical order.[17]
The following restrictions were applied with computer assistance:[17]
The teams were seeded based on the September 2022 UEFA Nations League overall rankings.[19]
Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 10 October 2022, the day following the draw.[20][21][22] The schedule was initially released on the day of the draw, but was withdrawn shortly after its distribution due to an alleged calendar issue.[23] However, UEFA ultimately confirmed the initial schedule the following day, with no changes made.[24] Group matches took place from 23 March to 21 November 2023.
Teams that failed in the qualifying group stage could still qualify for the final tournament through the play-offs. Leagues A, B, and C in the UEFA Nations League were allocated one of the three remaining final tournament spots. Four teams from each league that had not already qualified for the European Championship finals competed in the play-offs of their league. The play-off berths were first allocated to each Nations League group winner, and if any of the group winners already qualify for the European Championship finals, then to the next-best ranked team of the league.[27]
The team selection process determined the twelve teams that competed in the play-offs based on the Nations League overall rankings,[19] using a set of criteria that obeyed these principles:[8]
The qualifying play-off draw took place on 23 November 2023, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[28][29][30] The draw followed the path formation rules to determine the paths in which the non-group winners will participate. Three separate draws determining the host of the play-off final of each path also took place between the winners of the semi-final pairings (identified as semi-final 1 for seed 1 v 4, and semi-final 2 for seed 2 v 3).[31]
Due to the specificity of the draw, the exact procedure could only be finalised following the conclusion of the qualifying group stage.[32] No restrictions were applied to the draw, as none of the clashes prohibited by UEFA for political reasons could occur.[note 2] Based on the twelve teams that advanced to the play-offs, the three play-off paths were formed following the path formation rules, starting with League C and working up to League A:[33][34]
The following three non-group winners from League B (ordered by Nations League ranking) took part in the draw, with two being drawn into Path B, while the remaining team was allocated to Path A:
The two teams drawn into Path B occupied positions B3 and B4, following their Nations League ranking, while the team drawn into Path A occupied position A3.
The following was the composition of the play-off paths:
In the semi-finals of each path, the best-ranked team hosted the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team hosted the third-ranked team.
The following semi-final winners were drawn to host the play-off final:
There were 690 goals scored in 239 matches, for an average of 2.89 goals per match.
The overall rankings were used for seeding in the final tournament draw. Results against sixth-placed teams were not considered in the ranking.[8]
8th European association football championship
International football competition
The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
France were the defending champions, but failed to qualify.
The tournament crowned the Netherlands as European champions for the first time. Euro 88 was a rare instance of a major football tournament ending without a single sending-off or goalless draw, nor any knockout matches going to extra time or penalties. Euro 1988 was the final European Championship to see teams from West Germany and the Soviet Union, as the West and East Germans reunified to become Germany in 1990, and the Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 countries in 1991.
West Germany won the right to host the tournament with five votes ahead of a joint bid from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which earned one vote, and a bid from England.[1]
Because the Eastern Bloc disagreed that West Berlin was part of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Football Association ruled out playing Championship matches in West Berlin. This secured the participation of Eastern European members of UEFA.[citation needed] In the 1974 FIFA World Cup, however, West Berlin had hosted three games.
As a compromise, Berlin Olympic Stadium did host a Four Nations Tournament in 1988, with West Germany playing against the Soviet Union, Argentina and Sweden.[2]
The first group pitted two pre-tournament favourites West Germany and Italy together, along with Spain and Denmark. The West German team had won the 1980 European Championship and were the runners-up in each of the last two World Cups in 1982 and 1986, although in 1984 they failed to qualify from their group. With such results and additionally as the host they were commonly considered the main favourite of the tournament.
The Italians had not played at Euro 1984, though they had finished fourth in the 1980 tournament, for which they were the hosts; they had also won the 1982 World Cup, albeit followed by a middling performance in 1986. Spain and Denmark contested the second semi-final of the 1984 edition, in which Spain prevailed on penalty-kicks, but then lost the final to hosts, France (who failed to qualify in 1988). Both Spain and Denmark played in the 1986 World Cup, and met there again, in a Round of 16 match of the knockout stage which Spain won 5–1.
The Germans and Italians played out the opening game. This game was tightly contested. Roberto Mancini capitalised on a defensive error on the left-hand side of the German goal and the striker squeezed in a shot from a tight angle low to the left corner. Just three minutes later, Italy's goalkeeper, Walter Zenga was penalised for taking more than four steps with the ball and Andreas Brehme scored the resulting free-kick from the edge of the penalty area with a low shot to the right corner. Both teams settled for a 1–1 draw.
Spain defeated Denmark again, this time 3–2. Míchel opened the scoring after five minutes with a shot to the left corner from inside the penalty area and Michael Laudrup equalised 20 minutes later with a left foot shot from the edge of the penalty area to the left corner. Spain dominated the next hour and Emilio Butragueño scored with a low shot through the goalkeepers legs and then Rafael Gordillo putting the Spanish 3–1 to the good with a free-kick which deceived the goalkeeper. A late surge saw Flemming Povlsen reduce the scoreline with a header in off the left post, but was not enough for the Danes, who now needed to win both their remaining games to be certain of a place in the semi-finals.
In the remaining games the West Germans swept aside the Danes and Spanish. Jürgen Klinsmann and Olaf Thon scored to dispatch the former 2–0 while two goals from Rudi Völler were enough to beat Spain 2–0. The second goal was particularly notable. Lothar Matthäus ran 40 yards into the Spanish penalty box before back-heeling the ball for the oncoming Völler, following up his run, to strike the ball with the outside of his foot and into the corner of the goal.
The Italians won a difficult match against the Spanish 1–0, courtesy of a goal from Gianluca Vialli, a low cross-shot to the net on 73 minutes. In the last game, against an already eliminated Denmark, the Italians prevailed 2–0.
The second group witnessed a surprising set of results. In the opening game, one of the pre-tournament favourites England lost 1–0 to Ireland. Ray Houghton scored a looping header after six minutes after the English defence failed to clear a cross. The English applied strong pressure as the game wore on. Gary Lineker was unusually sluggish, missing a series of chances and hitting the crossbar – he was later diagnosed with hepatitis B.[3] In the other opening game, the Soviet Union defeated the Netherlands 1–0 through a Vasyl Rats goal, despite the Dutch dominating for long periods.
England met the Netherlands in Düsseldorf; both needed to win. England started strongly with Lineker hitting a post and Glenn Hoddle striking the post with a free-kick. The English defence, weakened by the absence of Terry Butcher, conceded the first of three goals to Marco van Basten on 44 minutes. Van Basten turned Butcher's replacement Tony Adams and beat Peter Shilton – playing his 100th game for England – to give his side a 1–0 lead. England rallied after the break. Lineker and Bryan Robson exchanged a kick one-two pass allowing Robson to burst into the box and lift the ball over Hans van Breukelen after 53 minutes. The score remained until Van Basten turned Tony Adams inside out to finish from 18 yards on 71 minutes. The striker pounced from close-range after a corner to seal a 3–1 win four minutes later.
The Irish and Soviets led the group after two games through a 1–1 draw in Hanover. Ronnie Whelan scored a spectacular left-foot volley from 18 yards to put the Irish into the lead. Oleh Protasov equalised with a low shot as the Soviets exerted late pressure.
Needing to defeat the Irish to progress, the Dutch won the game 1–0 through a late Wim Kieft goal. The ball deflected into his path and he delivered a looping header which spun into the right corner of the Irish net with nine minutes remaining just after Paul McGrath hit a Dutch post with a header. In the other game, the Soviets soundly thrashed England. A mistake from Hoddle allowed Sergei Aleinikov to score after three minutes. Adams equalised and England had chances to go ahead, but a goal before half-time and late in the game assured the Soviet Union would finish in first place in the group.[4]
Ranking of third-placed teams
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Wins; 5) Lower disciplinary points total; 6)
(or drawing of lots, if hosts Germany had been involved in the tiebreaker).
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.[78]
As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984, there was no third place play-off.
All times listed are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
There were 117 goals scored in 51 matches, for an average of 2.29 goals per match.
The Team of the Tournament, chosen by UEFA
UEFA Team of the Tournament
UEFA's technical observer team was given the objective of naming a team of the best eleven players from the tournament. Six players from the winning Spanish squad were named in the team.[145]
Player of the Tournament
The Player of the Tournament award was given to Rodri, who was chosen by UEFA's technical observers.[146]
Young Player of the Tournament
The Young Player of the Tournament award, open to players born on or after 1 January 2002, was given to Lamine Yamal, as chosen by UEFA's technical observers.[147]
Unlike in previous editions, the "Alipay Top Scorer" award, given to the top scorer of the tournament, was allowed to be shared among multiple players, whereas previous installments used assists and minutes played as tiebreakers. The award was thus given to each of the six players who scored three goals in the tournament: Cody Gakpo, Harry Kane, Georges Mikautadze, Jamal Musiala, Dani Olmo, and Ivan Schranz.[148]
Goal of the Tournament
The Goal of the Tournament was decided by a panel of UEFA technical observers. On 16 July 2024, UEFA announced that Spanish winger Lamine Yamal's semi-final goal against France had been chosen as the best goal of the tournament.[149]
Prior announcing Yamal's goal as the Goal of the Tournament, UEFA published an extensive list of goals nominalised for the award.[150]
The following three goals, according to UEFA's ranking, were:
Fans' Goal of the Tournament
The Fans' Goal of the Tournament was decided by online voting. A total 10 goals were in the shortlist, chosen by UEFA technical observers. On 20 July 2024, after an open vote on the official Euro 2024 website, UEFA announced that Turkish defender Mert Müldür's group stage goal against Georgia had been chosen as the fans' goal of the tournament.[151]
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[78]
The prize money was finalised on 2 December 2023. Each team received a participation fee of €9.25 million, with the winner able to earn a maximum of €28.25 million.[161]
The official logo was unveiled on 5 October 2021, during a ceremony at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The logo depicted the Henri Delaunay Trophy with 24 coloured slices around the trophy representing the 24 participating nations, and the ellipse reflected the shape of the Olympiastadion.[176] The coloured slices also represent the flags of all 55 UEFA member nations.[177][178][179] In addition, each of the ten host cities had their own unique logo, featuring the following local sights:[180]
The official slogan of the tournament was "United by Football. [German:] Vereint im Herzen Europas " (English: United in the heart of Europe). The slogan was chosen to promote diversity and inclusion.[181]
In November 2023, it was announced that EA Sports had picked up the rights for the UEFA Euro 2024 video game, and that the Euro 2024 downloadable update would be coming to EA Sports FC 24, EA Sports FC Mobile, and EA Sports FC Online in the summer of 2024.[182] Released on 11 June, the update featured a full tournament mode, local and online friendlies, and a Euro-themed single player career mode, called "Lead Your Nation", each including all of the teams, players, and tournament venues.[183][184]
From Euro 2024, Fanatics would be controlling the e-commerce, event retail and licensing of UEFA National Team competitions until Euro 2028.[185]
Topps, also owned by Fanatics, was the official sticker and trading card partner of the tournament, marking the end of Panini's association with UEFA which began in 1976. Stickers were produced for all the Euro 2024 teams, including the teams that did not qualify for the qualifying play-offs. These stickers could be sold, collected or traded.[186]
In December 2023, Italian DJ group Meduza, American pop rock band OneRepublic and German singer Kim Petras were all announced as the official music artists of the tournament.[187] However, in March 2024, it was announced that Petras had withdrawn from production due to scheduling issues, and was replaced by German singer Leony.[188] The official song, "Fire", was released on 10 May 2024.[189] It was performed live by the three music artists at the tournament's closing ceremony before the final on 14 July 2024.[190]
The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) was located at the halls of the Leipzig Trade Fair in Leipzig, Germany.[191]
Unlike the previous two tournaments, UEFA discontinued 4K ultra-high-definition broadcasts due to technical constraints, and amid lukewarm interest in the format among European broadcasters in comparison to high-dynamic-range (HDR) colour.[192]
UEFA used virtual advertising for the first time in the history of Euros, having three different types of sponsorship besides the Global sponsors, one pack for Germany, one for the United States and another for the Chinese market.[193]
Official global sponsors[194]
Official Germany national sponsors[193]
The official UEFA Euro 2024 mascot was unveiled on 20 June 2023 at the Germany vs Colombia international friendly in Gelsenkirchen.[213] The mascot was a teddy bear with shorts on.[214] A public vote was used to select the name of the mascot, with options being "Albärt", "Bärnardo", "Bärnheart" and "Herzi von Bär", all referencing the German word for bear (Bär).[215] Results were made public on 5 July, with the mascot's name announced to be "Albärt", getting 32% of the votes.[216]
Unofficially the event even has an animal oracle following in the footsteps of Paul the Octopus: Bubi the Elephant, who "predicted" Germany's opening round against Scotland with her initial kick through a makeshift goal.[217]
The official match ball of the tournament, "Fussballliebe", was unveiled by UEFA and Adidas on 15 November 2023.[218] Translated from the German as "football love", it featured black wing shapes with red, blue, orange and green edges and curves to showcase the qualified nations' vibrancy to the tournament, and the love that fans around the world give to football. Created with sustainable organic materials,[218] this was the first ball for a UEFA Euro to feature "Connected Ball Technology", where it contained internal electronic sensors, allowing detection of its movement for UEFA match officials to use to assist in decision-making.[219]
Merih Demiral celebration
In the Austria vs Turkey match on 2 July 2024, Turkish player Merih Demiral celebrated his second goal of the match with a wolf salute. The gesture is seen as ultra-nationalist due to its connection with far-right extremist group Grey Wolves and is banned in Austria, as well as France.[237] The celebration was criticised by German interior minister Nancy Faeser, while Nationalist Movement Party president Devlet Bahçeli shared his support for the celebration.[238] Demiral also posted a photo on his Twitter account of him performing the celebration along with the caption of: "How happy is the one who says I am a Turk!". UEFA opened an investigation on Demiral the following day[239] before later handing him a two-match ban, meaning he would miss Turkey's quarter-final match against the Netherlands, as well as their first 2024–25 UEFA Nations League match as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals.[240] Ahead of Turkey's following match against the Netherlands, Turkish supporters were seen making the controversial hand gesture en masse while on their way to the stadium as well as inside the stadium.[241][242][243] UEFA's ban on Demiral was criticised by some Turkish media outlets as hypocritical and of double standard by drawing comparisons with the lighter penalty received by Jude Bellingham for offensive gesture made at the same tournament and with political gestures made by footballers of other nations which had gone unpunished in previous editions of the tournament.[244][245]
On 14 July 2024, Al-Shabaab bombed Top Coffee in Mogadishu, Somalia, where spectators were watching the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain.[246] The attack killed more than ten people and injured 20 others.[247]
Following Spain's victory in the final, videos showed some Spanish players (notably Alvaro Morata and Rodri) celebrating with offensive chants towards Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory.[248][249] The Gibraltar FA stated they would file a complaint with UEFA.[250] UEFA eventually suspended both Morata and Rodri for Spain's upcoming match in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League against Serbia.[251]
tirto.id - Piala Asia 2024 bakal menjadi edisi ke-18 kejuaraan sepak bola antarnegara anggota AFC tersebut. Turnamen yang tahun depan bakal digelar di Qatar pada 12 Januari hingga 10 Februari 2024 ini, diselenggarakan 4 tahun sekali.
Dalam sejarah, jumlah peserta Piala Asia mengalami ekspansi. Dalam edisi perdana yang berlangsung pada 1956, hanya ada 4 peserta. Namun, jumlah tim yang lolos putaran final terus bertambah. Mulai Piala Asia edisi 2019, peserta putaran final menjadi 24 negara dari 47 anggota.
Awalnya, Piala Asia AFC edisi ke-18 akan digelar di China, pada musim panas 2023. Namun, China, mengundurkan diri karena masalah pandemi COVID-19 yang belum tuntas hingga awal 2023. Hal itu membuat AFC memilih tuan rumah baru yaitu Qatar.
Penunjukkan Qatar, sebagai tuan rumah juga membuat Piala Asia diundur penyelenggaraannya dari tahun 2023 menjadi 2024. Hal ini dilakukan agar turnamen bisa digelar pada musim dingin di Timur Tengah. Dengan demikian, pertandingan bisa digelar pada suhu yang tidak terlalu panas.
Edisi 2024 bakal menjadi kali ke-2 Qatar ditunjuk sebagai tuan rumah. Sebelumnya, mereka juga pernah menjadi penyelenggara Piala Asia 2011. Dalam edisi tersebut, Jepang keluar sebagai juara setelah mengalahkan Australia di final.
Di Piala Asia 2024, Jepang bakal kembali berpartisipasi dan menjadi negara unggulan di Piala Asia 2024. Samurai Biru tergabung di Grup D bersama Indonesia, Irak, dan Vietnam. Namun, upaya Jepang dipastikan tidak bakal mudah terealisasi.
Jika mengacu pada pembagian pot dalam undian Piala Asia 2024, setidaknya terdapat 4 pesaing utama Jepang. Mereka adalah Iran, Korea Selatan, Australia, dan Arab Saudi.
Tiebreakers for group ranking
If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied:[8]
Pitch invasions, thrown projectiles, and other interference
The Group F match between Turkey and Portugal was interrupted four times by pitch invaders trying to take a selfie with Cristiano Ronaldo. Two others invaded the pitch right after the final whistle. Additional pitch invasions happened during the game between Albania and Italy, one during the game between Romania and Ukraine, and one during the round of 16 game between Romania and the Netherlands. During another pitch invasion after the semi-final between Spain and France, a security guard chasing the invader accidentally slid into Spanish striker Álvaro Morata, who suffered an injury as a consequence.[220][221][222][223][224][225]
Several players and managers complained about fans throwing reusable plastic cups on the pitch, on occasion hitting players, particularly when taking a corner kick.[226] Other objects were thrown as well,[227] and Kevin De Bruyne had a laser pointer shone in his eye in one match.[228][229][230][231]
Barnabás Varga injury
During the second half of the Group A fixture between Scotland and Hungary, Hungarian striker Barnabás Varga was left unconscious after a collision with Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn, landing in a fencing response. It was later revealed that Varga had suffered from a concussion and sustained multiple fractured cheekbones.[232] Rapidly following the incident, medics made their way toward the scene and protective sheets were held around Varga. However, the stretcher bearers were seen walking toward the player, rather than running, prompting dismay from players, fans, and staff alike. Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai and fellow player Endre Botka proceeded to run with the stretcher in an attempt to speed up the process.[233] Following the injury, the captain expressed his frustration, stating that the medical staff did not react quick enough, with hopes that "everyone can save a few seconds and save a life." This was rebutted by UEFA, who claimed that the coordination between the on-site medical staff was "professional", with "no delay in the treatment of and assistance to the player."[234]
The match was resumed after 10 minutes, as Hungary went on to win by a score of 0–1 following a stoppage time goal from Kevin Csoboth, with Varga making a full recovery after undergoing surgery.[235]
During the group stage, several controversies came up due to the behaviour of various Balkan fans and players. Albania and Serbia were both fined €10,000 after their fans displayed irredentist symbols; Serbian fans displayed maps of Kosovo as being a part of Serbia while Albanian fans displayed maps of Greater Albania. Serbia threatened to quit the tournament if UEFA did not take action against Croatia and Albania after some of their fans chanted anti-Serbian slogans during the match, such as Ubij ubij ubij Srbina ("Kill kill kill the Serb"); an investigation was later launched into Croatia.[236] After the group stage game between Albania and Croatia, Mirlind Daku led the Albanian supporters in chanting anti-Macedonian and anti-Serbian slogans, and Albania was fined €47,250 and Daku was banned for two games. Kosovar journalist Arlind Sadiku was banned after making the crossed hands gesture towards Serbian fans during the Serbia and England game.[236]
17th edition of the UEFA European Football Championship
International football competition
The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the European men's national teams of their member associations. Germany hosted the tournament, which took place from 14 June to 14 July 2024. The tournament involved 24 teams, with Georgia making their European Championship debut.
It was the third time that European Championship matches were played on German territory, and the second time in reunified Germany, as West Germany hosted the 1988 tournament, and four matches of the multi-national Euro 2020 were played in Munich. It was the first time the competition was held in what was formerly East Germany, with Leipzig as a host city, as well as the first major tournament since the 2006 FIFA World Cup that Germany served as a solo host nation.[1][2] The tournament returned to its usual four-year cycle after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Italy were the defending champions, having won the 2020 final against England on penalties,[3] but failed to defend the title after being eliminated by Switzerland in the round of 16.[4] Host nation Germany were eliminated by Spain in the quarter-finals; Spain went on to win the tournament for a record fourth time after defeating England 2–1 in the final.[5]
On 8 March 2017, UEFA announced that two countries, Germany and Turkey, had announced their intentions to host the tournament before the deadline of 3 March 2017.[6][7]
The host was chosen by the UEFA Executive Committee in a confidential ballot,[8][9] needing only a simple majority of votes to win. If the votes were equal, the final decision rested with UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin.[10][11] Out of the 20 members of the UEFA Executive Committee, Reinhard Grindel (Germany) and Servet Yardımcı (Turkey) could not vote because they were ineligible. Lars-Christer Olsson (Sweden) was also absent due to illness. In total, 17 members were able to vote.[12][13]
The host was selected on 27 September 2018 in Nyon, Switzerland.[2][12][14][15] Germany initially planned to fully host Euro 2020, although it had not announced any firm interest by May 2012.[16]
Germany had a wide choice of stadiums that satisfied UEFA's minimum capacity requirement of 30,000 seats for European Championship matches.[17] The Olympiastadion in Berlin was the largest stadium at UEFA Euro 2024. The stadium hosted the final of the tournament, as well as three group stage matches, a round of 16 matches, and a quarterfinal.
Of the ten venues selected for Euro 2024, nine were used for the 2006 FIFA World Cup: Berlin, Dortmund, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Gelsenkirchen.[18][19] Düsseldorf, which was not used in 2006 but had previously been used for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1988, served as the tenth venue; conversely, Hanover, Nuremberg and Kaiserslautern, host cities in 2006 (in addition to 1974 and 1988 in Hanover's case), were not used for this championship. Munich, the site of the first game of UEFA Euro 2024, was also a host city at the multi-national UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, hosting four matches (three involving Germany) in front of a greatly reduced number of spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions.[20]
Various other stadiums, such as those in Bremen and Mönchengladbach, were not selected.[21] The area with the highest number of venues at UEFA Euro 2024 was the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with four of the ten host cities (Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne).[22]
Location of the host cities of the UEFA Euro 2024.
Each team chose a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases. The "team base camp" needed to be in Germany.[33]
Tickets for the venues were sold directly by UEFA via its website, or distributed by the football associations of the 24 finalists. Ticket sales started on 3 October 2023. More than 80% of the 2.7 million tickets for the 51 tournament matches were available for the fans of the participating teams and the general public.[57] Fans of each participating team allocated 10,000 tickets for group stage matches, 6,000 tickets for the round of 16 and quarter-finals, 7,000 for the semi-finals, and 10,000 for the final match. Over 50 million applications from 206 countries were received. Besides fans of Germany, most tickets were requested by fans supporting Turkey, Hungary, England, Albania and Croatia.[58] Prices ranged from €30 (for a seat behind the goal at a group match) to €1000 (for a seat in the main stand at the final).[59]
Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2024
Team failed to qualify
Team was banned from entering the competition
As hosts, Germany qualified for the tournament automatically. The 23 remaining spots were determined by a qualifying tournament; 20 spots were decided by the direct qualification of the winners and runners-up of the 10 qualifying groups, with the remaining three spots decided by play-offs.[60] Places in the play-offs were given to the teams that performed the best in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League who did not already qualify via the main qualifying tournament.[61] The draw for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage was held on 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle in Frankfurt.[62][63] The qualifying group stage took place from March to November 2023, while the three play-offs were held in March 2024.[64]
Of the 24 teams that qualified for the tournament, 19 had participated in the previous edition. These include the defending champions Italy and runners-up England, as well as 2022 World Cup runners-up France and bronze medalist Croatia. Portugal was the only team to qualify with a flawless record, whilst France, England, Belgium, Hungary, and Romania also qualified without a loss.[65]
Albania and Romania returned after missing out on Euro 2020, the former qualifying for only their second major tournament. Serbia and Slovenia both returned for the first time since Euro 2000, with Serbia qualifying for the first time since Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations, and Slovenia qualifying for their fourth major tournament as an independent nation.[66][67] Georgia beat Greece on penalties in the play-offs to qualify for their first-ever tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, also becoming the only debutants for this edition and ensuring every final tournament since the inaugural Euro 1960 saw at least one new team make their debut.[68]
Notable absentees included Sweden, Russia, and Wales. Sweden failed to reach the finals for the first time since Euro 1996 and also failed to qualify for their second major tournament in a row, having missed out on the 2022 World Cup. Russia, who were regulars at finals since Euro 2000, were barred from the qualifiers altogether in the aftermath of the country's invasion of Ukraine, the first time a national team had been banned from the competition since FR Yugoslavia in 1992. Wales, who reached the knockout stages at the previous two editions, including the semi-finals at Euro 2016, lost to Poland on penalties in the play-offs. Having made their debut at the previous edition, both North Macedonia and Finland failed to qualify for this edition.
At a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Hvar, Croatia, on 20 September 2022, it was confirmed that Russia would be excluded from qualifying for Euro 2024, reaffirming the suspension of all Russian teams following the country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and making this the first European Championship finals Russia would miss since 2000.[73][74][75][76]
The final tournament draw took place on 2 December 2023, 18:00 CET, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.[77] The teams were seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Hosts Germany were automatically seeded into pot 1, and they were placed in position A1. The three play-off winners were not known at the time of the draw, and the teams participating in those play-offs, scheduled to be held in March 2024, were placed into pot 4 for the draw.[78][79][80][81] The draw was disrupted by various sexual noises whilst it was taking place, as the result of a prankster.[82][83]
The maximum squad size of the teams was increased from the original quota of 23 to 26 players. Teams had to provide the list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26 by the deadline of 7 June.[84]
In April 2024, 19 refereeing teams were selected to take charge of the 51 matches at the tournament, including an Argentine team selected as part of a co-operation agreement between the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations.[85][86]
In addition, UEFA announced twenty video match officials and twelve support match officials (who would act as fourth official or reserve assistant referee).[86]
UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 10 May 2022, which included kick-off times only for the opening match, semi-finals, and final.[87][88] The kick-off times for all other matches were announced on 2 December 2023 following the draw.[89][90]
Group winners, runners-up and the best four third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16.
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).
If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied:[78]
Semi-finals and final
The first semi-final was significant as rivals West Germany played the Netherlands. It was only the third time the two sides had faced each other since the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final; the West Germans winning a first round match in the 1980 European Championship, and a 2–2 draw in a 1978 FIFA World Cup second round group match. The game was tight, and the West Germans broke the deadlock on 55 minutes with a Matthäus penalty after a foul on Klinsmann. The lead was held for 20 minutes until Jürgen Kohler brought down Van Basten. Ronald Koeman converted the spot-kick to level the match. With the match headed for extra time, a through ball caught the Germans out and Van Basten finished clinically with a shot as he slid along the floor, beating the goalkeeper and Kohler to the ball in the 88th minute for a 2–1 win. It gave the Dutch their first competitive victory against the Germans and the first appearance in the competition's final. The victory was marred by the reaction of Dutch defender Koeman who wiped the shirt of Olaf Thon, given to him after the match, on his backside in front of the German fans. The player apologised afterwards.
The other semi-final was another unpredictable result. Italy were strong favourites to reach the final and had beaten the Soviets 4–1 in a friendly just two months earlier. Despite controlling the play and having the majority of the chances, the Italians were undone by poor finishing and a strong, tough opposition who sought to stop their more skilful opponents from playing through hard tackles and a defensive strategy. The hard work-rate of the Soviets paid off and in just four second-half minutes, counter-attacks saw two goals from Hennadiy Lytovchenko and Oleg Protasov. The first one from Lytovchenko was initially blocked, but with quick reactions he beat Franco Baresi to the ball to fire the second shot into the far corner. The second from Protasov was a looping shot that floated over Zenga for a 2–0 victory. It would be the Soviet Union's fourth appearance in a European Championship final.
The final was played on 25 June between the Soviet Union, in what would turn out to be the nation's last European Championship match, and the Netherlands at the Olympiastadion in Munich. The Dutch won the match 2–0, with goals by captain Ruud Gullit and tournament top scorer Marco van Basten. Hans van Breukelen blocked a low penalty shot of Igor Belanov. Van Basten's goal, a sharply hit volley across the goal off an incoming looping pass, would later be described as one of the greatest goals in the history of the European Championships.[5][6]
Seven countries had to qualify for the final stage. West Germany qualified automatically as hosts of the event. The Republic of Ireland qualified for the first time for any major tournament. The holders, France, failed to qualify despite finishing third in the 1986 World Cup. As of 2024, this is the last time that France failed to qualify for the European Championship finals, and since the conversion to a group stage in the finals tournament, this remains the only time the previous tournament winners failed to qualify for the next competition.[7] Other notable absentees were Belgium (the 1980 runners-up and 1986 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists) and Portugal (semi-finalists of Euro 1984). The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:
Each national team had to submit a squad of 20 players.
The teams finishing in the top two of each group progressed to the semi-finals.
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).
If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:
In the knockout phase, extra time would be played if scores were level after 90 minutes, and a penalty shoot-out if teams could not be separated after the additional period.
There were 34 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 2.27 goals per match.
