Teams, players, fixtures and venues

With Euro 2024 fast approaching, the time has come to get excited about the drama that awaits us as Germany hosts the latest edition of the European Championship.

24 teams will look to be taking home the Henri Delaunay trophy, with December’s group stage draw ensuring there will be plenty of mouthwatering ties to look forward to when the tournament kicks off on Friday June 14.

Group A sees hosts Germany as clear favourites to progress, though opponents Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland will be no pushovers considering their respective paths to the finals…

Euro 2024 Group A fixtures

Germany

Who knows what to expect from Germany this summer? They may be the hosts and have a proud history in this competition behind them, but Die Mannschaft come into their home tournament in rotten form, and just 18 months following a second successive group stage exit from the World Cup.

With no qualifiers under their belt, their series of friendlies since disappointing in Qatar has been hugely underwhelming, with just 3 victories in their 11 subsequent fixtures, which included a five-game winless streak that cost Hansi Flick his job.

Replacement Julian Nagelsmann has only somewhat steadied the ship following a terrible international double-header in November, while such is the enigma of this German team, it is difficult to identify their standout star.

Leroy Sane will be among the more experienced players at the top of their game heading into the tournament, so plenty may look to him to inspire his nation to glory this summer.

Elsewhere, Florian Wirtz may be finally ready to make his mark on the international stage after missing the World Cup through injury, in an unpredictable team that is nevertheless chock-full of stars.

Scotland

Perhaps unlike the hosts, the Tartan Army can enter this European Championship with plenty of enthusiasm. Following their qualification for a first international tournament in over two decades at Euro 2020, Steve Clarke’s side qualified for successive Euros with relative ease, threatening to topple Spain in the process.

And their qualifying exploits – which also saw them overcome Erling Haaland’s Norway and play-off contenders Georgia – will surely have Scotland fancying their chances in a competitive-looking Group A.

Scott McTominay, Scotland’s top scorer in qualifying, will be hoping to spearhead his side to the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time, while Andy Robertson will be banking on feeling fully fit following his injury issues in the build-up. With third place potentially good enough to make the last 16, this could be Scotland’s year to make their mark.

Hungary

They may not be the international giants they once were, but Hungary are arguably having their best period for many a year. Qualifying for a third straight European Championship having not appeared at any major tournament from 1986 to 2016, this is something of a renaissance for the Magyars.

And they are not here by chance, either. Their place in Group A comes as second seeds, ahead of more established European outfits such as Croatia and the Netherlands.

Euro 2020 saw them hold France and Germany to draws, while the period since then included wins over England and Germany in the Nations League. In fact, Hungary came into the last international break before the finals on a 12-match unbeaten run, with Italy and Serbia the only nations to beat them in the last two years.

Dominik Szoboszlai is the undisputed poster boy, though there is clearly more than meets the eye for this team, as there is plenty of top-level experience, including from the likes of Peter Gulacsi, Attila Szalai and Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez.

Switzerland

This may be the last chance for several of Switzerland’s experienced stars to go for European glory. Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri, Yann Sommer and Fabian Schar are all over 30 and might not be in the running once Euro 2028 comes around.

Given they were seeded in pot 4 in the group stage draw, they may have been relatively pleased to avoid some of the big guns at this point.

And with the likes of Xhaka and Sommer flying high in their respective domestic leagues, they may just be peaking at the right time to spring something of a surprise in Group A.

Meanwhile, their opponents would be remiss to ignore the threat of Burnley’s Zeki Amdouni, their top scorer in qualifying with six – which was level with Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes.