The draw for UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying takes place at the Festhalle exhibition centre in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday [11am] with Rob Page's Cymru in Pot 2 as they look to qualify for a third successive EURO finals.
While the immediate focus turns to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar next month, the next qualifying campaign takes place between March and November 2023 with 23 of the 53 nations involved in Sunday's draw looking to join hosts Germany.
Cymru made history at EURO 2016 as Chris Coleman's side reached the semi-finals and again reached the knock-out stages under Page at EURO 2020. There will be ten qualifying groups comprising of seven groups of five teams and three groups of six teams. As the Netherlands, Croatia, Spain and Italy will also compete in the finals of the UEFA Nations League next summer, they will be allocated into the groups of five teams.
The ten group winners and ten runners-up will automatically qualify for the finals with the remaining three places decided by the play-offs that will take place in March 2024. The 53 nations involved in the qualifying draw have been seeded based on the overall rankings of the latest UEFA Nations League tournament following the completion of the group stages.
Russia are not included in the competition as they remain under suspension while the Czech Republic are now referred to as Czechia. The draw will be made by former EURO finalists Jürgen Klinsmann, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Gianluca Zambrotta and Demetrio Albertini. Here are the seven pots to which the 53 competing nations have been allocated:
UEFA Nations League pot
Netherlands, Croatia, Spain and Italy.
Pot 1
Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland and Poland.
Pot 2
France, Austria, Czechia, England, Cymru, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Scotland and Finland.
Pot 3
Ukraine, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, Montenegro, Romania, Sweden and Armenia.
Pot 4
Georgia, Greece, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Faroe Islands and North Macedonia,
Pot 5
Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Belarus, Lithuania, Gibraltar, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova and Malta.
Pot 6
Andorra, San Marino and Liechtenstein.
EURO facts
- EURO 2024 will be the 17th edition of the competition that was first held in 1960 in France.
- Germany and Spain are the most successful nations having won the trophy three times each.
- The trophy is named in honour of UEFA's first President, Henri Delauney, who played a key role in the formation of UEFA and the competition. He died three years before the first tournament.
- The first five EURO finals involved just four teams. It was expanded to eight in 1980, 16 in 1996 and 24 in 2016.
- Hosts Germany have competed at every EURO finals since 1972. This will be their 14th consecutive tournament.
England will face Italy and Ukraine in their Euro 2024 qualifying group.
Defending champions Italy and England met in the final of Euro 2020 but have now been pitted against each other in their bid to qualify for the tournament in Germany. North Macedonia, who prevented Roberto Mancini's side from reaching the World Cup, will also feature in Group C.
The Three Lions will start their qualifying campaign away at Italy in March 23 in what will be their first match after the Qatar World Cup, before hosting Ukraine three days later. England then play Malta and North Macedonia in June.
England's Euro 2024 qualifying fixtures
- Italy vs England – March 23, 2023, 7.45pm KO
- England vs Ukraine – March 26, 2023, 5pm KO
- Malta vs England – June 16, 2023, 7.45pm KO
- England vs North Macedonia – June 19, 2023, 7.45pm KO
- Ukraine vs England – September 9, 2023, 5pm KO
- England vs Italy – October 17, 2023, 7.45pm KO
- England vs Malta – November 17, 2023 7.45pm KO
- North Macedonia vs England – November 20, 2023, 7.45pm KO
Reacting to England's qualifying group, manager Gareth Southgate told Sky Sports News: "It's clearly a tough draw, given the quality of the opposition, and we've had draws in qualification that have probably been a little bit more comfortable than that.
"But I'd have to say, Poland and Hungary in the last qualifying group [for the Qatar World Cup] was particularly tough as well. So we're used to that, and the draws are what they are, it's about how you perform on the day."
On facing familiar opposition in Italy, the England manager added: "There are not too many surprises. We know the quality that they have and we know the depth that they have. England's record against Italy, generally, is not very good so we've got to improve that."
The top two countries from each qualifying group - seven of which include just five countries - will qualify.
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Scotland have been grouped with Spain and Norway while Wales will face Croatia.
But the Republic of Ireland seemingly face a tough challenge after being drawn with Netherlands and France.
Two teams from each of the three groups with six countries will also qualify for Euro 2024.
Northern Ireland, also in a six-country group, will play Denmark, Finland and Slovenia.
Germany, as hosts, have qualified automatically for the tournament while three countries will qualify from the play-offs.
The qualifiers start in March and will conclude next November.
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Wales manager Rob Page admits he is 'pretty happy' with the qualifying group for Euro 2024The Euro 2024 qualifying groups
Group A: Spain, Scotland, Norway, Georgia, Cyprus.
Group B: Netherlands, France, Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar.
Group C: Italy, England, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Malta.
Group D: Croatia, Wales, Armenia, Turkey, Latvia.
Group E: Poland, Czech Republic, Albania, Faroe Islands, Moldova.
Group F: Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Estonia.
Group G: Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Lithuania.
Group H: Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland, San Marino.
Group I: Switzerland, Israel, Romania, Kosovo, Belarus, Andorra.
Group J: Portugal, Bosnia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Liechtenstein.
When are the other Home Nations' games?
Scotland
Scotland vs Cyprus - March 25 2023, 2pm KO
Scotland vs Spain - March 28 2023, 7.45pm KO
Norway vs Scotland - June 17 2023, 5pm KO
Scotland vs Georgia - June 20 2023, 7.45pm KO
Cyprus vs Scotland - September 8 2023, 7.45pm KO
Spain vs Scotland - October 12 2023, 7.45pm KO
Georgia vs Scotland - November 16 2023, 5pm KO
Scotland vs Norway - November 19 2023, 7.45pm KO
Wales
Croatia vs Wales - March 25 2023, 7.45pm KO
Wales vs Latvia - March 28 2023, 7.45pm KO
Wales vs Armenia - June 16, 2023, 7.45pm KO
Turkey vs Wales - June 19, 2023, 7.45pm KO
Latvia vs Wales - September 11 2023, TBC KO
Wales vs Croatia - October 15 2023, 7.45pm KO
Armenia vs Wales - November 18 2023, 3pm KO
Wales vs Turkey - November 21 2023, 7.45pm KO
Northern Ireland [kick-offs TBC]
San Marino vs Northern Ireland - March 23 2023
Northern Ireland vs Finland - March 26 2023
Denmark vs Northern Ireland - June 16 2023
Northern Ireland vs Kazakhstan - June 19 2023
Slovenia vs Northern Ireland - September 7 2023
Kazakhstan vs Northern Ireland - September 10 2023
Northern Ireland vs San Marino - October 14 2023
Northern Ireland vs Slovenia - October 17 2023
Finland vs Northern Ireland - November 17 2023
Northern Ireland vs Denmark - November 20 2023
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland v France - March 27 2023
Greece v Republic of Ireland - June 16 2023
Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar - June 19 2023
France v Republic of Ireland - September 7 2023
Republic of Ireland v Netherlands - September 10 2023
Republic of Ireland v Greece - October 13 2023
Gibraltar v Republic of Ireland - October 16 2023
Netherlands v Republic of Ireland - November 18 2023
Who qualifies for Euro 2024?
Two teams - the group winners and runners-up - will qualify automatically from each of the 10 groups.
Three teams will then qualify via the play-offs.
Germany, as hosts, are the only country currently certain to be one of the 24 nations in action at next summer's tournament.
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Italy manager Roberto Mancini is looking forward to resuming his team's rivalry with EnglandWhat are the key Euro 2024 dates?
The first round of qualifiers takes place between March 23-25 2023, while the final matches are on November 19-21 2023.
However, the four Nations League finalists will not be in action on either matchday three or four as they will be competing in the finals of that tournament.
What about the play-offs?
Each country that won their Nations League group make it automatically into the play-offs, unless they progress to the tournament itself by finishing in the top two of their qualifying group.
In that situation, the next best nation in the respective league will take their play-off place, with this decided by the following criteria: position in the group, points and goal difference.
The draw for the play-offs takes place in November 2023, with the play-off semi-finals and finals being played between March 21 and 26, 2024.
When is the tournament?
The final tournament draw will take place in December 2023 at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
The teams will be seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Germany will be automatically seeded into pot 1 as hosts, and placed in position A1.
The three play-off winners will not be known at the time of the draw but will be placed into pot 4 for the draw.
The opening game of Euro 2024 is June 14 2024 with the final taking place on July 14 2024 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin.
Who are the Euro 2024 hosts?
Germany, the team of the EURO 2024 host association, qualify automatically for the final tournament and therefore did not take part in the qualifying draw.