UEFA Euro 2024: Complete Guide to the European Championship

Europe’s biggest football competition is all set to bring the football extravaganza this summer. UEFA Euro will be back with its 17th edition in June and this time, it will be held in Germany. The theme of the competition is “United in the Heart of Europe”. After the completion of club football, the tournament will kick off on 14 June 2024.

Germany to Host Euro 2024

The UEFA Euro 2024 will be hosted by Germany. The nation got the responsibility to host the nation for the third time after 1988 and 2020. Along with Germany, Turkey also showed interest in hosting the tournament, but Germany won the host bidding by a huge margin of 12 (Germany) to 4 (Turkey).

Hosting Cities and Stadiums

1. Berlin: Olympiastadion Berlin (Capacity = 74,461)
2. Munich: Allianz Arena (Capacity = 70,076)
3. Dortmund: Signal Iduna Park (Capacity = 65,849)
4. Gelsenkirchen: Arena AufSchalke (Capacity = 54,740)
5. Stuttgart: MHPArena (Capacity = 54,906)
6. Frankfurt: Waldstadion (Capacity = 54,697)
7. Hamburg: Volksparkstadion (Capacity = 52,245)
8. Dusseldorf: Merkur Spiel-Arena (Capacity = 51,031)
9. Cologne: RheinEnergieStadion (Capacity = 49,827)
10. Leipzig: Red Bull Arena (Capacity: 42,959)

Logo Details of the Championship

The logo of Euro 2024 is an oval inside which different colored 24 stripes are there. These stripes represent the participating nations in the competition.

A silver-colored trophy inside his oval shape is also available. Below the logo, UEFA’s trademark sign is there below which “EURO 2024” is written. The “O” is opened at the bottom which represents the shape of the Olympiastadion, the host stadium of the Final.

At the bottom of the logo, the name of the host nation “Germany” is written. All text in the logo is written in Blue appearance.

Qualified Teams of the Competition

For the finals of UEFA Euro 2024, except for the host nation Germany, 53 teams from Europe played the European qualification matches. Out of these 53 teams, 20 qualified through the qualification, while the remaining 3 teams will play Qualifying play-offs to qualify for the finals. So the European Championship will be contested by 24 teams.

Qualified teams: Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Turkey, Austria, England, Hungary, Slovakia, Albania, Denmark, Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, Serbia, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and 3 teams will be decided by the play-offs.

Teams Qualified through Play-Offs: Ukraine, Poland, and Georgia qualified through play-offs played in March 2024 to decide the remaining 3 teams of the competition. This is the first qualification of Georgia in the finals of Euros.

UEFA Euro 2024 Groups

On 2 December 2023, a draw was held to decide the groups for the competition. Based on the European rankings of the teams, they were allocated in different pots. The draw divided all 24 teams into 6 groups of 4 teams each. Every team will play a single round-robin game against their group rival and the top 2 teams from each group plus 4 best third-placed teams will qualify for the Round of 16.

• Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, and Switzerland
• Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, and Albania
• Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, and England
• Group D: Netherlands, Austria, France, and TBD
• Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, and TBD
• Group F: Turkey, Portugal, Czech Republic, and TBD

Olympiastadion to host the Final

Germany’s most Iconic football stadium i.e. Olympiastadion will host the Final of UEFA Euro 2024 on 14 July 2024. This stadium will host a total of 5 matches throughout the competition (3 group stage games, 1 match of the Round of 16, and 1 match of the Quarterfinal round).

Host nation Germany will play the opening game of the competition against Scotland on 14 June 2024. Check the schedule of Euro 2024. Each team will play 3 group-stage games and the winners of each group will face runners-up of the other group in the next round.

Worldwide Broadcasting Rights

In the host nation Germany, Deutsch Telekom, RTL, ARD, and ZDF are the official broadcast partners of the tournament. In France, TF1 and M6 hold the broadcasting rights. Check out the worldwide broadcasting rights of Euro 2024 in different countries.

Europe

• Germany: Deutche Telekom, ARD, RTL, and ZDF
• France: TF1, and M6
• Italy: Sky Sports, and RAI
• United Kingdom: BBC, and ITV
• Switzerland: SRG SSR
• Netherlands: NOS
• Spain: RTVE
• Portugal: SportTV, TVI, RT, and SCI
• Belgium: VRT, and RTBF
• Greece: ERT
• Israel: Charlton
• Iceland: RUV
• Austria: ORF, ServusTV

Asia

• India: Sony Sports Network
• China: iQIYI
• Indonesia: MNC Media
• Singapore: SPOTV
• South Korea: CJ ENIM
• Vietnam: HTV
• Myanmar: Sky Net

North America

• United States: Fox Sports, Fubo TV, Televisa Univision
• Canada: TVA Sports, TSN
• Mexico: Sky Mexico

Mascot and Match Ball of the Euro 2024

Both the mascot and match ball for the competition have been unveiled. A teddy bear named “Albärt” mascot was selected based on public voting. It was officially unveiled during a friendly match between Germany and Colombia on 20 June 2023.

The official match ball of the UEFA Euro 2024 is “Fussballliebe” which means “Love of Football”. The OMB is provided by Adidas and it was launched on 15 November 2023. It is designed with Connected Ball Technology featuring a sensor inside to track the ball's location, speed, etc.

Prize Money of European Championship 2024

The Prize Money for UEFA Euro 2024 is almost the same as that of the 2020 Championship. A total of $360 Million of amount will be distributed to all 24 teams of the competition based on their performance. Although it is the same as the previous edition but a huge one as compared to the prize money of the other competitions like Copa America, AFCON, Asian Cup, etc.

Each of the 24 qualified teams will get a minimum of $10.12 Million as a participating fee which is independent of their performance in this tournament. However, if a team wins a group-stage game, it will receive $1.09 Million and $0.55 Million for a draw. Given below is the distribution of the Prize Money

• Participating fee: $10.12 Million
• Group Stage win: $1.09 Million
• Round of 16: $1.64 Million
• Quarter-Finals: $2.74 Million
• Semi-Finals: $4.38 Million
• Runners-up: $5.47 Million
• Winners: $8.75 Million

Anthem Song for the Championship

On the 2nd of December 2023, UEFA announced the artists for the official music of the competition. Meduza, One Republic, and Kim Petras are named as the artists for the Euro 2024 music.

These artists will unveil the anticipated music in spring this year. The song, along with other musical elements such as the walkout sound and TV sequences, will capture the spirit of Football and Music.

UEFA Euro FAQs

Which team has won the most European Championship titles?

Germany and Spain have won 3 Euro titles. Germany played 13 editions to win 3 trophies, whereas Spain played 11 editions.

Who has scored the most goals in UEFA Euros?

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored the most goals (14 goals) in the European Championship. Also, he is the highest goal scorer in the Qualifying matches (41 goals.)

Who has scored the most hat-tricks in Euro Competition?

France's former footballer Michel Platini has scored 2 hat-tricks in the competition which makes him the most hat-trick scorer.

Which is the fastest goal ever scored in the Euros?

Russia’s former Dimitri Kirichenko scored the fastest goal of the competition in 67 seconds against Greece in 2004.

How many players will be in the team squad for Euro 2024?

UEFA is considering the team squad size. It was increased to 26 players for Euro 2020 but later reduced to 23 due to COVID-19. The final decision on the team squad strength is yet to be taken.