Photo by Slobodan Kadic
December 2, 2023 – The EURO 2024 draw was held tonight in Hamburg, revealing Croatia’s group for the highly anticipated tournament in Germany next June.
Croatia will play in Group B against Spain, Albania and Italy. Croatia opens the Euros on June 15th against Spain in Berlin. On June 19, Croatia plays Albania in Hamburg, and on June 24 against Italy in Leipzig.
The draw featured 24 national teams divided into six groups with four teams each. Keep in mind that there are still three unknown national teams that will fight for their spot at the Euros in March.
Croatia directly qualified for the Euros by winning second place in Group D, one point behind the first-placed Turkey. Croatia was thus placed in the third strongest pot for the EURO 2024 draw with the Netherlands, Scotland, Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, meaning they could not be grouped with them.
Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, and England were in the first pot, and Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Albania, and Austria in the second. Italy, Serbia, and Switzerland were in the fourth pot, which also includes the national teams that will qualify through additional qualifications, i.e., the winners of mini-tournaments A, B, and C.
Poland, Estonia, Wales, and Finland are participating in mini-tournament A, Israel, Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ukraine in B, and Georgia, Luxembourg, Greece, and Kazakhstan in C.
Croatia at the EUROS
The Croatia national football team qualified for its seventh European Championship and so far have missed only one competition – in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000. This will also be the 13th Croatian appearance at the world and European championships out of 15 possible. In addition to the Euros in 2000, Croatia missed the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. And while Croatia has won three medals at the World Cup – silver in 2018 and bronze in 1998 and 2022, they never made it past the quarterfinals at the Euros.
About EURO 2024
EURO 2024 will be played in 10 German cities – Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.
The group competition is scheduled from June 14 to 26, and the two best national teams from each group and the four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16.
The round of 16 is played from June 29 to July 2, the quarter-finals on July 5 and 6, the semi-finals on July 9 and 10, and the final on July 14.
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