How does Euro 2024 qualifying work? How many teams will play in the tournament in Germany?

 Euro 2024 is the major international soccer tournament in 2024 when 24 teams vie for the opportunity to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy.

Germany is hosting the competition, and it is the first time it has staged the European Championship since its unification – West Germany previously hosted the 1988 tournament when the Netherlands beat the Soviet Union 2-0 in the final.

Since then, the Euros has undergone several changes, most notably expanding from eight teams to 24 via five renewals with 16 teams, and there are also now two knockout rounds compared to 1988.

England Are the Favorites

England, who hosted the final of Euro 2020, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the current +400 favorite to go one better than last time when the side lost to Italy at Wembley in a penalty shootout.

France is next in line at +450, and if you want to bet on the Euro 2024 winner being the host, then Germany is priced at +650.

As hosts, Germany automatically qualifies for the finals, and the remaining 23 participants will come via two routes. The qualifying phase consists of 10 groups containing five or six teams in each group, with home and away fixtures against each team, and the top two countries will then progress to the finals.

The remaining three places will be determined via playoffs, featuring teams based on their performances in the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League. The teams in these playoffs will be decided at the end of the qualifying phase and will feature countries that have not already qualified.

There will likely be four teams from Nations Leagues A, B, and C, depending on which teams have not qualified, and an eventual winner from each path will then go through to the finals.

These playoffs will be staged in March 2024, nearly four months after the finals draw. The draw for Euro 2024 will be in Hamburg on December 2, and the seeding for the draw will be based on performances in qualifying.

Germany Automatically Qualifies for Finals

Germany, as hosts, is automatically seeded in Pot 1 and placed in Group A. The three eventual playoff winners will be seeded in Pot 4. In total, the finals will consist of six groups of four teams.

Each team plays its group rivals once, and the top two teams go through to the round-of-16 stage, along with the four teams that finished with the best third-placed record.......................................

After that, it is then a straight knockout format, with the round of 16 followed by the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and then the final on July 14 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

The German capital is one of 10 cities to be hosting games, with the others being Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dortmund, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, and Munich, which stages the opening game between Germany and a Group A opponent on June 13.

From the first game to the last, there are 51 matches in total, and it promises to be a fascinating battle to discover which team will succeed Italy as European champions.