UEFA Euro 2024

The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the European men's national teams of their member associations. Germany hosted the tournament, which took place from 14 June to 14 July 2024. The tournament involved 24 teams, with Georgia making their European Championship debut.

It was the third time that European Championship matches were played on German territory, and the second time in reunified Germany, as West Germany hosted the 1988 tournament, and four matches of the multi-national Euro 2020 were played in Munich. It was the first time the competition was held in what was formerly East Germany, with Leipzig as a host city, as well as the first major tournament since the 2006 FIFA World Cup that Germany served as a solo host nation. The tournament returned to its usual four-year cycle after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Italy were the defending champions, having won the 2020 final against England on penalties, but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Switzerland. Host nation Germany were eliminated by Spain in the quarter-finals; Spain went on to win the tournament for a record fourth time after defeating England 2–1 in the final.

Host selection


On 8 March 2017, UEFA announced that two countries, Germany and Turkey, had announced their intentions to host the tournament before the deadline of 3 March 2017.

The host was chosen by the UEFA Executive Committee in a confidential ballot, needing only a simple majority of votes to win. If the votes were equal, the final decision rested with UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin. Out of the 20 members on the UEFA Executive Committee, Reinhard Grindel (Germany) and Servet Yardımcı (Turkey) could not vote because they were ineligible. Lars-Christer Olsson (Sweden) was also absent due to illness. In total, 17 members were able to vote.

The host was selected on 27 September 2018 in Nyon, Switzerland. Germany initially planned to fully host Euro 2020, although had not announced any firm interest by May 2012.

Venues
Germany had a wide choice of stadiums that satisfied UEFA's minimum capacity requirement of 30,000 seats for European Championship matches.

Of the ten venues selected for Euro 2024, nine were used for the 2006 FIFA World Cup: Berlin, Dortmund, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Gelsenkirchen. Düsseldorf, which was not used in 2006 but had previously been used for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1988, served as the tenth venue; conversely, Hanover, Nuremberg and Kaiserslautern, host cities in 2006 (in addition to 1974 and 1988 in Hanover's case), were not used for this championship. Munich, the site of the first game of UEFA Euro 2024, was also a host city at the multi-national UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, hosting four matches (three involving Germany) in front of a greatly reduced number of spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Various other stadiums, such as those in Bremen and Mönchengladbach, were not selected. The area with the highest number of venues at UEFA Euro 2024 was the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with four of the ten host cities (Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne).

Team base camps
Each team chose a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases. The "team base camp" needed to be in Germany.

Ticketing
Tickets for the venues were sold directly by UEFA via its website, or distributed by the football associations of the 24 finalists. Ticket sales started on 3 October 2023. More than 80% of 2.7 million tickets for the 51 tournament matches were available for the fans of the participating teams and the general public. Fans of each participating team allocated 10,000 tickets for group stage matches, 6,000 tickets for the round of 16 and quarter-finals, 7,000 for the semi-finals, and 10,000 for the final match. Over 50 million applications from 206 countries were received. Besides fans of Germany, the most tickets were requested by fans supporting Turkey, Hungary, England, Albania and Croatia. Prices ranged from €30 (for a seat behind the goal at a group match) to €1000 (for a seat in the main stand at the final).

Qualification
As hosts, Germany qualified for the tournament automatically. The 23 remaining spots were determined by a qualifying tournament; 20 spots were decided by the direct qualification of the winners and runners-up of the 10 qualifying groups, with the remaining three spots decided by play-offs. Places in the play-offs were given to the teams that performed the best in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League who did not already qualify via the main qualifying tournament. The draw for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage was held on 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle in Frankfurt. The qualifying group stage took place from March to November 2023, while the three play-offs were held in March 2024.

Qualified teams
Of the 24 teams that qualified for the tournament, 19 had participated in the previous edition. These include the defending champions Italy and runners-up England, as well as 2022 World Cup runners-up France and bronze medalist Croatia. Portugal was the only team to qualify with a flawless record, whilst France, England, Belgium, Hungary, and Romania also qualified without a loss.

Albania and Romania returned after missing out on Euro 2020, the former qualifying for only their second major tournament. Serbia and Slovenia both returned for the first time since Euro 2000, with Serbia qualifying for the first time since Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations, and Slovenia qualifying for their fourth major tournament as an independent nation. Georgia beat Greece on penalties in the play-offs to qualify for their first-ever tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, also becoming the only debutants for this edition and ensuring every final tournament since the inaugural Euro 1960 saw one new team make their debut.

Notable absentees include Sweden, Russia, and Wales. Sweden failed to reach the finals for the first time since Euro 1996 and also failed to qualify for their second major tournament in a row, having missed out on the 2022 World Cup. Russia, who were regulars at finals since Euro 2000, were barred from the qualifiers altogether in the aftermath of the country's invasion of Ukraine, the first time a national team had been banned from the competition since FR Yugoslavia in 1992. Wales, who reached the knockout stages at the previous two editions, including the semi-finals at Euro 2016, lost to Poland on penalties in the play-offs. Having made their debut at the previous edition, both North Macedonia and Finland failed to qualify for this edition.

Disqualification of Russia
At a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Hvar, Croatia, on 20 September 2022, it was confirmed that Russia would be excluded from qualifying for Euro 2024, reaffirming the suspension of all Russian teams following the country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and making this the first European Championship finals Russia would miss since 2000.

Final draw
The final tournament draw took place on 2 December 2023, 18:00 CET, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. The teams were seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Hosts Germany were automatically seeded into pot 1, and they were placed in position A1. The three play-off winners were not known at the time of the draw, and the teams participating in those play-offs, scheduled to be held in March 2024, were placed into pot 4 for the draw. The draw was disrupted by various sexual noises whilst it was taking place, as the result of a prankster.
 * Pot 1: Germany (Host), group winners ranked 1–5
 * Pot 2: Group winners ranked 6–10, group runner-up ranked 1 (6–11 overall)
 * Pot 3: Group runners-up ranked 2–7 (12–17 overall)
 * Pot 4: Group runners-up ranked 8–10 (18–20 overall), play-off winners A–C (identity unknown at the time of the draw)

Squads
The maximum squad size of the teams was increased from the original quota of 23 to 26 players. Teams had to provide the list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26 by the deadline of 7 June.

Match officials
In April 2024, 19 refereeing teams were selected to take charge of the 51 matches at the tournament, including an Argentine team selected as part of a co-operation agreement between the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations.

In addition, UEFA announced twenty video match officials and twelve support match officials (who would act as fourth official or reserve assistant referee).

Group stage
UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 10 May 2022, which included kick-off times only for the opening match, semi-finals, and final. The kick-off times for all other matches were announced on 2 December 2023 following the draw.

Group winners, runners-up and the best four third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16.

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).

Tiebreakers
If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied: Notes
 * 1) Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
 * 2) Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
 * 3) Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
 * If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams who are still level to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 will apply;
 * 1) Superior goal difference in all group matches;
 * 2) Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
 * 3) If on the last round of the group stage, two teams who are facing each other are tied in points, goal difference and goals scored then they drew their match, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This criterion is not used if more than two teams had the same number of points.);
 * 4) Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card regardless whether it was a direct red card or two yellow cards, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
 * 5) Higher position in the European Qualifiers overall ranking, or drawing of lots if hosts Germany had been involved in the tiebreaker.

Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out.

As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984, there was no third place play-off.

All times listed are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Awards
UEFA Team of the Tournament

UEFA's technical observer team was given the objective of naming a team of the best eleven players from the tournament. Six players from the winning Spanish squad were named in the team.

Player of the Tournament

The Player of the Tournament award was given to Rodri, who was chosen by UEFA's technical observers.
 * 🇪🇸 Rodri

Young Player of the Tournament

The Young Player of the Tournament award, open to players born on or after 1 January 2002, was given to Lamine Yamal, as chosen by UEFA's technical observers.
 * 🇪🇸 Lamine Yamal – July 13, 2007

Top Scorer

Unlike in previous editions, the "Alipay Top Scorer" award, given to the top scorer of the tournament, was allowed to be shared among multiple players, whereas previous installments used assists and minutes played as tiebreakers. The award was thus given to each of the six players who scored three goals in the tournament: Cody Gakpo, Harry Kane, Georges Mikautadze, Jamal Musiala, Dani Olmo, and Ivan Schranz.

(3 goals each)
 * Cody Gakpo
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Kane
 * Georges Mikautadze
 * 🇩🇪 Jamal Musiala
 * 🇪🇸 Dani Olmo
 * 🇸🇰 Ivan Schranz

Goal of the Tournament

The Goal of the Tournament was decided by a panel of UEFA technical observers. On 16 July 2024, UEFA announced that Spanish winger Lamine Yamal's semi-final goal against France had been chosen as the best goal of the tournament.


 * 🇪🇸 Lamine Yamal (goal vs France)

Fans' Goal of the Tournament

The Fans' Goal of the Tournament was decided by online voting. A total 10 goals were in the shortlist, chosen by UEFA technical observers. On 20 July 2024, after an open vote on the official Euro 2024 website, UEFA announced that Turkish defender Mert Müldür's group stage goal against Georgia had been chosen as the fans' goal of the tournament.
 * 🇹🇷 Mert Müldür (goal vs Georgia)

Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
 * Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
 * Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches; yellow cards expired after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions were not carried forward to any other future international matches)

The following players earned a suspension during the tournament:

Prize money
The prize money was finalised on 2 December 2023. Each team received a participation fee of €9.25 million, with the winner able to earn a maximum of €28.25 million.

Records

 * After securing a record fourth title, Spain became the first European Championship winners to win all their group matches twice (having done so previously in 2008), with France (1984) and Italy (2021) the only other teams to have achieved this once. This statistic refers to the European Championship since 1980, with the inclusion of the group stage.
 * Spain also became the first European team to win all seven matches at European championship without needing a penalty shoot-out. France also won every match without needing a penalty shoot-out in 1984, albeit while playing only five matches.
 * Spain's 15 goals broke the record for most goals scored by a team at a single European Championship. The record was previously held by France, scoring 14 goals in 1984. Ten different players scored for Spain, another record.
 * By taking charge of Germany's tournament opener against Scotland, Julian Nagelsmann became the youngest head coach to manage a match at the European Championship at the age of 36 years and 327 days, surpassing the previous record set in 2000 by Slovenia coach Srečko Katanec by six days.
 * Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to play at a UEFA European Championship aged 16 years and 338 days old, after featuring for Spain in their opening match against Croatia. The previous youngest player was Poland's Kacper Kozłowski, aged 17 years and 246 days in 2021.
 * With his goal in Spain's semi-final against France, Yamal then became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship, aged 16 years and 362 days. The previous youngest was Switzerland's Johan Vonlanthen, aged 18 years and 141 days in 2004, also against France.
 * Yamal's appearance in the final, one day after his 17th birthday, also made him the youngest player to both appear in and also win a UEFA European Championship final. Previously, the youngest player to both appear in and also win a UEFA European Championship final was Portugal's Renato Sanches, in 2016, aged 18 years and 328 days.
 * Nedim Bajrami set the record for fastest goal scored in European Championship history, scoring in Albania's opener against Italy after just 23 seconds. This shattered the previous record of 67 seconds, set by Russia's Dmitri Kirichenko in 2004. Kirichenko's goal was then pushed into third place following Merih Demiral's goal for Turkey against Austria in the round of 16, coming after only 58 seconds. The fourth-fastest goal was also recorded, when Youri Tielemans scored for Belgium against Romania after only 74 seconds.
 * Portugal's Pepe became the oldest player to make an appearance at the European Championship, aged 41 years and 130 days in his side's quarter-final match against France. Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Király, the previous record holder, was aged 40 years and 86 days when he faced Belgium in the round of 16 in 2016. Before Pepe, the oldest outfield player was Lothar Matthäus, who won his 150th and final cap for Germany aged 39 years and 91 days in 2000.
 * Cristiano Ronaldo extended his own record for the most tournaments featured in, appearing in his sixth European Championship.
 * Luka Modrić became the oldest player to score a goal at the European Championship, aged 38 years and 289 days in Croatia's group stage match against Italy. The previous record was held by Austria's Ivica Vastić, who was 38 years and 257 days old when he scored against Poland in 2008.
 * Kevin Csoboth set the record for the latest regulation time goal in tournament history, scoring for Hungary against Scotland in the 10th minute after the 90-minute mark.
 * The final Group F game between Czech Republic and Turkey broke the record for the most number of cards shown in total in a single match. 19 cards (17 yellow and 2 red) were shown (Czech Republic receiving 7 of them and Turkey 12), surpassing the previous record of 10 shown in the Euro 2016 final between Portugal and France.
 * Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa made three saves in the round of 16 penalty shoot-out against Slovenia, breaking the European Championship record for most saves in one penalty shoot-out, while Slovenia became the first team in tournament history to miss all of their penalties.

Branding
The official logo was unveiled on 5 October 2021, during a ceremony at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The logo depicted the Henri Delaunay Trophy with 24 coloured slices around the trophy representing the 24 participating nations, and the ellipse reflected the shape of the Olympiastadion. In addition, each of the ten host cities had their own unique logo, featuring the following local sights:
 * Berlin: Brandenburg Gate
 * Cologne: Cologne Cathedral
 * Dortmund: Dortmund U-Tower
 * Düsseldorf: Schlossturm (Düsseldorf), Rheinturm and Rheinkniebrücke
 * Frankfurt: Römer
 * Gelsenkirchen: Musiktheater im Revier
 * Hamburg: Elbphilharmonie
 * Leipzig: Monument to the Battle of the Nations
 * Munich: Frauenkirche
 * Stuttgart: Fernsehturm Stuttgart

The official slogan of the tournament was "United by Football. Vereint im Herzen Europas." The slogan was chosen to promote diversity and inclusion.

Merchandise
In November 2023, it was announced that EA Sports had picked up the rights for the UEFA Euro 2024 video game, and that the Euro 2024 downloadable update would be coming to EA Sports FC 24, EA Sports FC Mobile, and EA Sports FC Online in the summer of 2024. Released on 11 June, the update featured a full tournament mode, local and online friendlies, and a Euro-themed single player career mode, called "Lead Your Nation", each including all of the teams, players, and tournament venues.

From Euro 2024, Fanatics would be controlling the e-commerce, event retail and licensing of UEFA National Team competitions until Euro 2028.

Topps, also owned by Fanatics, was the official sticker and trading card partner of the tournament, marking the end of Panini's association with UEFA which began in 1976. Stickers were produced for all the Euro 2024 teams, including the teams that did not qualify for the qualifying play-offs. These stickers could be sold, collected or traded.

Official song
In December 2023, Italian DJ group Meduza, American pop rock band OneRepublic and German singer Kim Petras were all announced as the official music artists of the tournament. However, in March 2024, it was announced that Petras had withdrawn from production due to scheduling issues, and was replaced by German singer Leony. The official song, "Fire", was released on 10 May 2024. It was performed live by the three music artists at the tournament's closing ceremony before the final on 14 July 2024.

Broadcasting rights
The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) was located at the halls of the Leipzig Trade Fair in Leipzig, Germany.

Unlike the previous two tournaments, UEFA discontinued 4K ultra-high-definition broadcasts due to technical constraints, and amid lukewarm interest in the format among European broadcasters in comparison to high-dynamic-range (HDR) color.

Sponsorship
UEFA used virtual advertising for the first time in the history of Euros, having three different types of sponsorship besides the Global sponsors, one pack for Germany, one for the United States and another for the Chinese market.

Official global sponsors 


 * Adidas
 * Alibaba Group (Alipay, AliExpress, Antom and WorldFirst brands)
 * Atos
 * Betano
 * Booking.com
 * BYD Auto
 * Coca-Cola
 * Engelbert Strauss
 * Hisense
 * Lidl
 * Qatar Airways
 * Unilever
 * Visit Qatar
 * Vivo Mobile

Official Germany national sponsors


 * Bitburger Brewery
 * Deutsche Bahn
 * Deutsche Telekom
 * Ergo Group
 * Wiesenhof

Mascot
The official UEFA Euro 2024 mascot was unveiled on 20 June 2023 at the Germany vs Colombia international friendly in Gelsenkirchen. The mascot was a teddy bear with shorts on. A public vote was used to select the name of the mascot, with options being "Albärt", "Bärnardo", "Bärnheart" and "Herzi von Bär", all referencing the German word for bear (Bär). Results were made public on 5 July, with the mascot's name announced to be "Albärt", getting 32% of the votes.

Unofficially the event even has an animal oracle following in the footsteps of Paul the Octopus: Bubi the Elephant, who "predicted" Germany's opening round against Scotland with her initial kick through a makeshift goal.

Match ball
The official match ball of the tournament, "Fussballliebe", was unveiled by UEFA and Adidas on 15 November 2023. Translated from the German as "football love", it featured black wing shapes with red, blue, orange and green edges and curves to showcase the qualified nations' vibrancy to the tournament, and the love that fans around the world give to football. Created with sustainable organic materials, this was the first ball for a UEFA Euro to feature "Connected Ball Technology", where it contained internal electronic sensors, allowing detection of its movement for UEFA match officials to use to assist in decision-making.

Pitch invasions, thrown projectiles, and other interference
The Group F match between Turkey and Portugal was interrupted four times by pitch invaders trying to take a selfie with Cristiano Ronaldo. Two others invaded the pitch right after the final whistle. Additional pitch invasions happened during the game between Albania and Italy, one during the game between Romania and Ukraine, and one during the round of 16 game between Romania and the Netherlands. During another pitch invasion after the semi-final between Spain and France, a security guard chasing the invader accidentally slid into Spanish striker Álvaro Morata, who suffered an injury as a consequence.

Several players and managers have complained about fans throwing reusable plastic cups on the pitch, on occasion hitting players, particularly when taking a corner kick. Other objects have been thrown as well, and Kevin De Bruyne had a laser pointer shone in his eye in one match.

Barnabás Varga injury
During the second half of the Group A fixture between Scotland and Hungary, Hungarian striker Barnabás Varga was left unconscious after a collision with Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn, landing in a fencing response. It was later revealed that Varga had suffered from a concussion and sustained multiple fractured cheekbones. Rapidly following the incident, medics made their way toward the scene and protective sheets were held around Varga. However, the stretcher bearers were seen walking toward the player, rather than running, prompting dismay from players, fans, and staff alike. Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai and fellow player Endre Botka proceeded to run with the stretcher in an attempt to speed up the process. Following the injury, the captain expressed his frustration, stating that the medical staff did not react quick enough, with hopes that "everyone can save a few seconds and save a life." This was rebutted by UEFA, who claimed that the coordination between the on-site medical staff was "professional", with "no delay in the treatment of and assistance to the player."

The match was resumed after 10 minutes, as Hungary went on to win by a score of 0–1 following a stoppage time goal from Kevin Csoboth, with Varga making a full recovery after undergoing surgery.

Balkan incidents
During the group stage, several controversies came up due to the behaviour of various Balkan fans and players. Albania and Serbia were both fined €10,000 after their fans displayed irredentist symbols; Serbian fans displayed maps of Kosovo as being a part of Serbia while Albanian fans displayed maps of Greater Albania. Serbia threatened to quit the tournament if UEFA did not take action against Croatia and Albania after some of their fans chanted anti-Serbian slogans during the match, such as Ubij ubij ubij Srbina ("Kill kill kill the Serb"); an investigation was later launched into Croatia. After the group stage game between Albania and Croatia, Mirlind Daku led the Albanian supporters in chanting anti-Macedonian and anti-Serbian slogans, and Albania was fined €47,250 and Daku was banned for two games. Kosovar journalist Arlind Sadiku was banned after making the crossed hands gesture towards Serbian fans during the Serbia and England game.

Merih Demiral celebration
In the Austria vs Turkey match on 2 July 2024, Turkish player Merih Demiral celebrated his second goal of the match with a wolf salute. The gesture is seen as ultra-nationalist due to its connection with far-right extremist group Grey Wolves and is banned in Austria, as well as France. The celebration was criticised by German interior minister Nancy Faeser, while Nationalist Movement Party president Devlet Bahçeli shared his support for the celebration. Demiral also posted a photo on his Twitter account of him performing the celebration along with the caption of: "How happy is the one who says I am a Turk!". UEFA opened an investigation on Demiral the following day before later handing him a two-match ban, meaning he would miss Turkey's quarter-final match against the Netherlands, as well as their first 2024–25 UEFA Nations League match as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Ahead of Turkey's following match against the Netherlands, Turkish supporters were seen making the controversial hand gesture en masse while on their way to the stadium as well as inside the stadium.

Spanish celebrations
Following Spain's victory in the final, videos showed some Spanish players celebrating with offensive chants towards Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory. The Gibraltar FA stated they would file a complaint with UEFA.