Euro 2024. Who can the Poles play against in the qualifiers? Competitors and potential scenarios

There are 24 places for the Euro, and it was clear from the beginning that the host country would participate in the tournament. Germany. 20 participants are selected through qualifying rounds (the best two teams in each group). The final three teams will be announced after the qualifiers featuring the top twelve teams in the Nations League, excluding those who finish in the qualifying rounds.

We met the first Euro participants on October 13th. She was Belgium, France and Portugal. Two days later they joined them Scotland, Spain And Türkiye. After 24 hours Austriaand the next day Anglia. The Hungarians and Slovaks had to wait until Thursday to advance, and they joined them on Friday Albanians and Danes.

The red and white teams will likely compete in the playoffs. They finished eleventh in the Nations League.

They will only be eliminated from the qualifiers if four teams seeded higher than them, in places 1 to 9 in the Nations League, do not qualify from the qualifying groups for the European Championship (Germany finished 10th – host of the Euro, confirming their participation in the tournament).

Top 11 teams in the Nations League:

Spain (confirmed upgrade)
Croatia
Italy
Holland
Denmark (confirmed upgrade)
Portugal (confirmed promotion)
Belgium (confirmed promotion)
Hungary (confirmed promotion)
Switzerland
Germany (host)
Poland

The qualifiers will be held in three tracks – A, B and C. The three winners will qualify. Four teams from each team compete in the semi-finals, and then the final match is held. So you have to win two games.

The draw for the semi-finals is scheduled to be drawn on November 23. The first playoff matches are scheduled to be held on March 21, and five days later the promotion matches will be decided.

Who can the Poles play against? Much depends on the development of the situation in other groups. The most beneficial would be a direct promotion to the Euro for Croatia, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands, because all of these countries are ahead of us in the Nations League classification, which will determine the seeding in the qualifiers.

We have to congratulate the Croats and Italians, because their path to first and second place looks very difficult. The former must rely on Wales stumbling in the last two matches in Group D, while the latter should not lose away from home on Monday to Ukraine in Group C.

If all the above-mentioned teams qualify directly, Poland will face Estonia in the first round of the two-stage qualifiers (according to the regulations, the team entered the competition as the best team from Section D of the last edition of the League of Nations). In the second group it could be Wales, Ukraine, Finland or Iceland.

If the Italians finish second in the group and the Croats do not, the Whites and Reds will start the qualifiers with a match against Ukraine, Finland or Iceland, and then, if they win, they will face the Croats.

In the worst-case scenario, Michel Proppers’ players could face the Italians in the semi-finals of the qualifiers, and the Croats in the final. This would be a challenge.