The qualifying phase is drawn in Frankfurt
MADRID, 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish soccer team will be seeded in the draw for the qualifying phase of Euro 2024 that will take place this Sunday in Frankfurt (Germany), after qualifying for the ‘Final Four’ of the UEFA Nations League.
A total of 53 national teams participate in a draw in which Germany will not be, already classified for the final phase as organizer of the continental event. Neither will Russia, currently suspended due to the war in Ukraine.
In this way, the national teams are seeded according to the general classification of the UEFA Nations League 2022/23 and will be placed in ten classification groups (seven groups of five teams and three groups of six).
Luis Enrique’s team will thus avoid the Netherlands, Croatia and Italy, their rivals to rise in the League of Nations, in the same way as Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland and Poland, all of them in pot 1. Roja’ will still have dangerous opponents to avoid in the rest of the drums, among the most prominent France and England
Also featured in Pot 2 are the Czech Republic, Wales, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Scotland and Finland. In the third, Ukraine, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, Montenegro, Romania, Sweden and Armenia. Already in fourth are Georgia, Greece, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Bulgaria, the Faroe Islands and North Macedonia.
In the fifth, and penultimate pot, is Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Belarus, Lithuania, Gibraltar, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova and Malta, while Andorra, San Marino and Liechtenstein are in sixth.
The final four of the Nations League will play the last matches of this competition in June 2023. As a consequence, these teams only have eight matchdays for the group stage of the European qualification and must be assigned to groups of five teams.
TEN GROUPS FOR THE CLASSIFICATION
There will be ten groups for qualifying, including seven groups of five teams (Groups AG) and three groups of six teams (Groups HJ). The teams will meet at home and away in a home-and-away system. Group matches are played according to the European qualifying match schedule, from March to November 2023.
The top ten in the group and the ten second in the group qualify directly for the final tournament. The remaining three places will be filled by the teams that qualify through the play-offs in March 2024.