Croatia drew a promising group for the Euro 2020 qualifiers to be played next year.
The draw for the qualifying groups of the European Football Championships took place in Dublin on Sunday. The tournament will take place in 12 countries in June and July 2020, reports Goal.hr on December 2, 2018.
The ceremony began with the screening of the 2016 European Championships held in France, where Croatia lost to Portugal in the round of 16 who later went on to be the champions. Former Croatia coach Ante Čačić led his team against Turkey, Spain and the Czech Republic in the group stage.
The Croatian delegation was represented in Dublin by coach Zlatko Dalić, head of the International Affairs and Licensing Division Ivančica Sudac, Croatia team manager Iva Olivari, HNS spokesperson Tomislav Pacak, and executive director Damir Vrbanović.
Croatia will thus play in Group E with five teams, including Wales, Slovakia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan.
The Euro qualifiers will feature 55 teams, which were drawn into ten groups. Five groups (from A to E) have five teams, while five groups (from F to J) have six teams.
Out of a total of 24 participants in the Euros, 20 will advance from the qualifiers by being the first or second place team in their group. The other four will be awarded after the Nations League playoffs scheduled in March 2020.
The European Championship will be played in London, Munich, Rome, Baku, Saint Petersburg, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Dublin, Bilbao, Budapest, Glasgow, and Copenhagen. The first match will be played in Rome on June 12th, while the semifinal and final (July 12) will be played at Wembley in London.
The first qualifying round will be played from March 21 to March 23, 2019, and the final round will be scheduled from November 17 to 19 next year.
Euro 2020 Qualifiers:
Group A: England, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Kosovo
Group B: Portugal, Ukraine, Serbia, Lithuania, Luxembourg
Group C: Netherlands, Germany, Northern Ireland, Estonia, Belarus
Group D: Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Georgia, Gibraltar
Group E: CROATIA, Wales, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan
Group F: Spain, Sweden, Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands, Malta
Group G: Poland, Austria, Israel, Slovenia, Macedonia, Latvia
Group H: France, Iceland, Turkey, Albania, Moldova, Andorra
Group I: Belgium, Russia, Scotland, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, San Marino
Group J: Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Greece, Armenia, Liechtenstein
To read more about the Croatia national team, follow TCN’s dedicated page here.
