For the third time in history, 24 teams will take part in the European Championship. A third of them will play in the playoffs: at the end of the group stage, only eight teams will be eliminated. The best two from six groups, as well as four more teams that took third place, will advance to the 1/8 finals.

On the eve of the start of the main tournament of the summer, we give forecasts for the European Football Championship: who will make it to the playoffs and who will win EURO 2024.

Group A. Hungarians can surprise

Forecast: 1. Germany, 2. Hungary, 3. Switzerland, 4. Scotland

Everything is clear with the favorite of this group. Last year, the Germans promptly removed Hans-Dieter Flick from the national team when things started to get tough: under this coach, the team lost to everyone in friendly matches. The last straw was the home defeat from the Japanese (1:4). With the arrival of Julian Nagelsmann, things began to improve, as evidenced by the spring victories over top opponents: the Bundesteam showed their potential in matches with France (2:0) and the Netherlands (2:1).

With the support of their home stands in Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt, the Germans should easily take first place in the group, especially since the lot was most favorable to them. The only thing that worries the fans of the national team on the eve of the tournament is the frequent mistakes of Manuel Neuer, but this will have to be thought about in the playoffs. There will be enough safety margin at the group stage even taking into account the eccentricities of the 38-year-old goalkeeper.

Dominik Szoboszlai / Photo: © Horvath Tamas / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

But for second place there will be a real fight. Here you can expect surprises from the Hungarians, who have qualified for the EURO finals for the third time in a row. At each of the tournaments, this team certainly did not look like a whipping boy: eight years ago it managed to get out of the group, and in 2021 it scored two spirited draws with France and Germany. This time she has only one top team as her opponents, which means she has every chance to compete for second place.

The Hungarians’ main hopes are tied to the team’s most expensive and star player, Dominik Szoboszlai, although in addition to him, the squad includes plenty of experienced guys who play in top championships. The potential of Marco Rossi’s team was visible even in the qualifying round, where they beat the strong Serbs twice and went the entire distance without defeat. Now the Hungarians are not only ripe for leaving the group, but are quite capable of making some noise in the playoffs.

Group B. It’s time for the Spaniards to rehabilitate themselves

Forecast: 1. Spain, 2. Italy, 3. Croatia, 4. Albania

Spain national team / Photo: © Rafa Babot / Freelancer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The Spanish national team, after its golden period (2008-2012), during which it won three major tournaments in a row, is in a permanent crisis. The only bright spot during this time was the previous EURO, in which Luis Enrique’s team was definitely one of the best, but lost to the eventual winner in a penalty shootout in the semi-finals. The very next year, with the same coach, she failed at the World Championships, unable to advance beyond the 1/8 finals.

Now the team is led by the experienced Luis de la Fuente, with whom the Spaniards won the Nations League a year ago. He has an excellent lineup at his disposal, which, as they wrote earlier, is an ideal fusion of experience and youth. With the support of the old guys in Carvajal, Morata and Joselu, brash guys like Yamal and Pedri are capable of a lot.

The “Group of Death” should become a springboard for the future flight of the Spaniards. If you manage to become the best in such a meat grinder, then it should be easier. Moreover, the playoff bracket looks as convenient as possible: there is every chance of not crossing paths with England and France until the final, and Germany seems to be the main danger in the knockout matches at the moment.

Group C. England ripe for title

Forecast: 1. England, 2. Serbia, 3. Denmark, 4. Slovenia

Jude Bellingham / Photo: © Visionhaus / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

With the arrival of Gareth Southgate, the English are constantly a few steps away from winning a major tournament. At the 2018 World Cup, his team stumbled in the semi-finals; in the home final of EURO 2020 at Wembley, everything was decided by the mistakes of young players in the penalty shootout. Harry Kane’s missed 11-meter shot shocked all of England at the last World Cup: the French ended up going further.

Now the England team has everything to win the first trophy since 1966: firstly, the most expensive squad in the world with a total cost of 1.5 billion euros, and secondly, the enormous experience of previous tournaments. Southgate’s core is the same as it was in Russia six years ago: Pickford, Trippier, Walker, Kane – all these athletes are in place. And then a cool generation has grown up in the persons of Bellingham, Foden, Saka and Rice, each of whom is worth more than 100 million euros.

For a long time, the England team was considered something like Dynamo Moscow in Russian football. She was always near the top, but it was impossible to imagine her with a title. Dynamo recently had an excellent opportunity to break the “curse”. The star Englishmen have every chance to cope with this task on July 14th.

The teams of Denmark and Serbia will compete for second place in the group. And here the outcome does not look obvious at all. The Danes won over with their performance at the previous EURO, but since then they have been rather disappointing: they failed at the World Championship, and even lost to Kazakhstan in the qualification for the European Championship. This time, the opening team could be Serbia, from whom nothing much is expected, but this will only benefit them.

Group D. France will be rocking for a long time

Forecast: 1. Netherlands, 2. France, 3. Poland, 4. Austria

French national team / Photo: © Catherine Steenkeste / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The status of one of the main favorites of the tournament may hinder the French, as it did three years ago. Then, having found themselves in the “group of death”, the reigning world champions managed to squeeze out only one victory, and then “twisted” already in the first round of the playoffs, encountering the fearless Swiss. There is no doubt about the power of the “tricolors”, but sometimes they can start to play the fool. Last year’s two defeats to Germany in the “tovarnik” also show that the French are far from perfect.

This can be taken advantage of by the victory-hungry Netherlands, which has constantly had problems at the EURO in recent years. For 20 years now, a top team has not been able to overcome the barrier of the first round of the playoffs. Three years ago, the Czechs knocked her out of the tournament altogether. Now with the super talent Xavi Simons, experienced van Dijk, de Jong and a host of other top players, we need to count on at least the semi-finals. For a more comfortable path to it, you will need to take first place in the group.

Group E. Tedesco took a big risk

Forecast: 1. Belgium, 2. Ukraine, 3. Romania, 4. Slovakia

Domenico Tedesco / Photo: © DeFodi Images / Contributor / DeFodi Images / Gettyimages.ru

The former head coach of Spartak greatly surprised everyone by not calling Thibaut Courtois to the national team. According to Domenico Tedesco, one of the best goalkeepers in the world is not ready for the upcoming tournament, although, judging by the Champions League final, Courtois is fine. The real reason for the non-call was a simmering conflict between the coach and the goalkeeper. Tedesco took a big risk by making such a decision, because now he will definitely not be forgiven for a weak result. The coach chose 31-year-old Koen Castells from Wolfsburg over the star Courtois as number one.

Based on the complexity of the opponents in the group stage, the goalkeeping issue may not come to the fore at first, but any blemish by Real Madrid’s replacement goalkeeper will be Tedesco’s death sentence. Belgium should be able to deal with the average European teams in the group, but it will be more difficult. It’s difficult to get beyond the quarterfinals on Kevin De Bruyne’s talent alone.

Over the past ten years, everyone has been expecting great success from the star generation of Belgians, whose best result was bronze at the 2018 World Cup. During this time, new growth has appeared, and now much can be expected from Jeremy Docu, Lois Openda, Amadou Onana and Charles de Ketelare. But this is unlikely to happen now, especially given the high probability of ending up in the same part of the playoff bracket with England and France.

Group F. Ronaldo’s last dance?

Forecast: 1. Portugal, 2. Czech Republic, 3. Türkiye, 4. Georgia

Cristiano Ronaldo / Photo: © Sebastian Frej/MB Media / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The group tournament promises to be a cakewalk for the Portuguese, who were definitely luckier with the draw than the same Italians or French. For 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, three matches in the group is a great chance to consolidate his position as the top scorer in the history of the European Championships. His result (14 goals) already looks unattainable, but the record-hungry egomaniac is definitely not going to stop.

For Ronaldo, this EURO will be the sixth in his career and probably the last. Even with his careful approach to diet and recovery, it is too difficult to imagine him taking the field at 43 years old. Eight years ago, he already fulfilled his main dream, taking a trophy with the national team at the European Championships in France. Now there is no need to talk about a repeat of this: leaving the group and passing the first round of the playoffs would already be a good result for the Portuguese.

A fierce struggle will unfold for second and third places in the group, in which the chances of the tournament debutant of the Georgian national team do not look at all illusory. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s partners will try to prove that this is a team of more than just one player.

Watch live broadcasts of European Championship matches on the Match TV channel, as well as on the websites sportbox.ru and matchtv.ru.