EURO 2024 in Germany: What you need to know

Which teams have qualified?

Given their recent struggles, perhaps it is a good thing for Germany that as hosts, they are automatically qualified for their home tournament, which opens on June 14 in Munich and concludes with the final in Berlin a month later. So far, 20 other teams have qualified: Albania, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czechia, Turkey and Hungary.

How will the remaining 3 participants be determined?

The last three EURO 2024 participants will be determined in three playoff tournaments to be held at the end of March, each made up of four teams that qualified via the Nations League. Vying for those last three spots will be: Georgia, Luxembourg, Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel, Greece, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Poland, Iceland and Wales.

When will the groups be drawn?

The draw for the group is to be held in the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg on December 2. The teams will be divided into four pots, depending on their performance in their qualifying group. The three teams that qualify via the playoffs end up in pot 4, while hosts Germany are seeded top of Group A and will play the opening match on June 14.

How are tickets for EURO 2024 being sold?

The first phase of ticket allocation has already been completed. According to UEFA, there were around 20 million applications for the approximately 1.2 million tickets on offer. A further 1 million tickets will go on sale following the December 2 draw, with another 500,000 tickets to be put onto the market after the March playoffs. This adds up to a total of some 2.7 million tickets available for the 51 tournament matches. All tickets are personalized and will only be issued digitally.

What is the mood like in the host country?

Host nation Germany are the only team that already know exactly when and where they will be playing their group stage matches — even if they don't yet know against whom. Following the opening match in Munich on June 14, they will travel to Stuttgart for their second match on June 19 and Frankfurt for their final group-stage match on June 23.

However, the sense of anticipation in the host country is decidedly muted, and that has much to do with the national team's disappointing performances over the past several years. The defeats in the recent friendlies against Turkey and Austria certainly didn't help, nor have the major disappointments at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, in which they failed to reach the knockout phase. At the 2021 EUROs, Germany weren't much better, only managing to reach the round of 16 before being sent home.

Nevertheless, tournament director Philipp Lahm has expressed satisfaction with the state of preparations for the undertaking, which has the full support of the German government. "Overall, I can already feel and see this support," said the captain of the German team that won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Lahm also praised the government's support in the organizing committee's efforts "even if things could go even faster here and there from our point of view."

This article was originally published in German.