What are England’s best and worst case scenarios in the Euro 2024 draw?

Gareth Southgate’s side topped their qualification group

Harry Latham-Coyle
Saturday 02 December 2023 05:59 EST
Comments
England have qualified for next summer’s tournament
England have qualified for next summer’s tournament (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

England have ensured a high seeding for next summer’s Euro 2024.

Gareth Southgate’s side topped qualifying Group C unbeaten, securing a tally of 20 points to finish as one of the five best group winners.

That ensured that they are in Pot 1 for the draw alongside Germany, Portugal, France, Spain and Belgium.

It means that the Euro 2020 runners-up will not face any of those five sides in the group stages.

That makes England’s path to knock-out stage qualification easier, though there are still plenty of strong sides in the other three pots.

With three play-off qualifiers still to be confirmed, the pots look like this:

Pot 1: Germany (hosts), 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 winner A, Play-off winner B, Play-off winner C

So what is the toughest possible draw for England?

While the pots are based on qualifying form, and thus a useful gauge of team quality, we will go by Fifa’s world rankings to determine the best and worst case scenarios for Southgate and his side.

England topped their qualifying group
England topped their qualifying group (Action Images via Reuters)

The toughest possible draw for England (current world ranking 3rd) would be: Denmark (19th), Netherlands (6th), Italy (9th).

The simplest draw, meanwhile, would comprise of: Albania (62nd), Slovenia (54th), Kazakhstan* (100th).

*Kazakhstan are part of qualifying play-off Path C

When is Euro 2024?

The 17th edition of the men’s Euros will be held in Germany between 14 June and 14 July.

Which cities are hosting fixtures?

Berlin

Munich

Hamburg

Dusseldorf

Frankfurt

Cologne

Stuttgart

Gelsenkirchen

Leipzig

Dortmund

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in