UEFA Euro 2024: Groups A and B Preview

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY - MARCH 26: Toni Kroos of Germany looks on prior to the international friendly match between Germany and The Netherlands at Deutsche Bank Park on March 26, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

The UEFA Euro 2024, or the European Championship, starts Friday, June 14 in Germany. The Euros, the second-most watched tournament in the world, are held every four years in between the FIFA World Cup, the most-watched tournament. This year’s edition will be the 17th, with Italy serving as reigning Euro champion. The 2024 Euro includes 24 nations, divided in six groups of four. Here’s a look at Groups A and B, who will play their group stage matches from June 14 through June 24.

Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland

As the host, Germany automatically qualified for the Euro 2024, not that they would have had any difficult in going through the qualification process. Germany ranks 16th in the FIFA World Ranking and ninth amongst UEFA nations. The Germans are also the most successful team in European Championship history as their three wins are tied for the most ever, and their six finals appearances are the most in history. Being the host also has its perks, with both limited travel and home-field advantage. Over the previous 16 European Championships, the host has made at least the semifinals 14 times, including winning the tournament four times.

This German squad isn’t the juggernaut of past years, but it still has several holdovers from the team that won the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Midfielder Thomas Muller is coming off a season in which he led the German Bundesliga in assists per 90 minutes (0.49) and is the most decorated German soccer player in history, with 33 trophies. Meanwhile, Toni Kroos, who will retire after this tournament, just won his record-tying sixth UEFA Champions League last week. That veteran leadership will hope to steer Germany back in the right direction as the nation has as many losses (five) as wins over the last calendar year.

Scotland is a nation still looking for any success at a major tournament. The Scots have appeared in three prior European Championships, as well as eight World Cups, and they’ve never advanced past the group stage. With just six wins across 32 total matches in those tournaments, a single victory in Germany could be seen as quite the accomplishment.

Hungary has become more of a presence at recent Euros as this is their third straight appearance after failing to qualify in each of the previous 10 tournaments. They are bringing a young squad over to Germany with 10 players aged 25 or younger and just two players with more than six career international goals. One of those, Dominik Szoboszlai, is the captain and just finished his first season with Liverpool, helping the Reds to a third-place finish in the EPL. Unlike the Germany squad, Hungary enters the 2024 Euros playing their best as they had a 14-match unbeaten streak from Nov. 2022 to March 2024 before dropping a pre-Euro friendly to Ireland.

Switzerland is the next-highest ranked team in Group A, after Germany, as the Swiss are No. 19 and coming off a quarterfinals appearance at the last Euros. Just two of their players play in the top-flight Swiss domestic league as most of the roster is scattered throughout clubs in the Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany) and Ligue 1 (France). Additionally, one player applies his craft in Major League Soccer, winger Xherdan Shaqiri. He plays club ball for the Chicago Fire and is one of seven MLS players in the 2024 European Championship.

Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania

Spain is tied with Germany for the most European Championships, at three, and the Spaniards are coming off claiming the UEFA Nations League in 2023. They finished in third place at the 2020 Euros, despite winning just twice all tournament, and La Roja have interesting histories with all of their groupmates. There is no nation that Spain has played more times than Italy (40), and while Spain has more wins in the head-to-head series, Italy has the better goal differential. Meanwhile, there is no nation that the Spaniards have dominated like Albania, as Spain’s eight wins in eight games is their longest-lasting perfect record against any country. As for Croatia, these two teams last met in the UEFA Nations League Final in June 2023, and they played to a draw after 120 minutes before Spain prevailed 5-4 in a penalty shootout to win the championship.

Croatia is bringing a veteran squad into the European Championship, with four players having at least 100 caps. They are led by the venerable Luka Modric, who at 38 is the third-oldest player in the tournament. The 2018 Ballon d’Or winner is still a midfield maestro but doesn’t have the pace he once had, and Croatia also leans heavily on other 30-somethings in Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric up front. Croatia has never won a major soccer tournament and has never advanced past the quarters of the Euros, but they enter as the No. 10 ranked team in the world and have stayed in the top 10 since late 2022.

The Italians are the team to beat, as they won Euro 2020, which was held in 2021 due to the pandemic. Italy swept their group, without conceding a single goal, then needed extra time in three of their four knockout games to win the title, with two of them going to penalties. However, they didn’t get to showcase themselves on an even bigger stage at the 2022 World Cup as they didn’t qualify. That led to the resignation of manager Roberto Mancini, and his replacement, Luciana Spalletti, is leaning almost entirely on young players. This Italian squad has just one player over 30 and not a single player who’s scored more than nine international goals.

One team had to draw the short stick when it comes to the Group of Death, and it’s Albania. Spain, Croatia and Italy are all ranked in the top 10 in the world, while the Albanians are just 66th. They’ve never made the World Cup and were knocked out in the group stage of their one previous Euro appearance (2016). The team will lean on striker Rey Manaj for offense after he finished third in the Turkish Super Lig with 18 goals this past season for club team Sivasspor.