It looked, for a while there, as if Italy wouldn’t qualify for Euro 2024 – a tournament at
which they would be defending the trophy they won at Wembley Stadium in 2021.
The Azzurri struggled in Group C of the qualification campaign, finding themselves
outmatched by England and pushed all the way by Ukraine.
They went toe-to-toe with the Ukrainians in a winner-takes-all contest in November;
ironically, that ended in a draw, so the Italians qualified for the tournament in Germany by
virtue of a better head-to-head record having beaten Ukraine at the San Siro in September.
As you can imagine, that was a huge relief for Luciano Spalletti – Italy’s head coach – and
his players…
Passport to the Big Time
At the time of writing, 21 of the 24 teams that will contest the European Championships are
now known – meaning that predictions as to who will win the tournament are starting to take
shape.
Italy have been installed as a +1400 chance in the
Euro 2024 winner betting, behind the likes
of England (+350), France (+350) and hosts Germany (+700).
England certainly have the beating of Italy, having triumphed home and away in their Group
C meetings, although nobody qualified with the same pizazz as France and dark horses
Portugal.
The Portuguese won all ten of their
Euro 2024 qualifying games, notching 36 goals and
conceding just two under the stewardship of Roberto Martinez. He faces the unenviable task
of finding a place in his starting eleven for a galaxy of attacking talent, with Cristiano
Ronaldo still banging in the goals alongside the likes of Bruno Fernandes and a host of new
stars.
France, meanwhile, blitzed 29 goals in just eight qualification games – albeit 14 of those
came in the rather humiliating 14-0 defeat of Gibraltar during the final round of action.
But the World Cup finalists know what it takes to succeed on the big stage, and so they surely
head to Germany as the team to beat.
Last-Chance Saloon
The remaining three places at Euro 2024 have been reserved for the winners of the play-off
path.
This second-chance tournament will see some of the best-performing ‘losers’ from the group
stage do battle with those who secured their play-off spots via their efforts in the UEFA
Nations League.
Goal machine Robert Lewandowski will be hoping his Poland side can get over the line –
they finished bottom of their group at the 2020 edition, while Ukraine, who reached the
quarter-finals three years ago, will be hoping to put their heartbreak against Italy behind
them.
Wales, Finland, Iceland and Greece are also amongst the play-off contenders, while what a
fillip it would be for the footballing infrastructure of Georgia, Kazakhstan or Luxembourg if
they can upset the odds and make it through the challenging knockout competition.
There’s
one place at Euro 2024 up for grabs for each of the winners of Path A, B and C, with
a random draw confirming some of the semi-final fixtures in each section: Poland and
Estonia will collide in March 2024, as will Georgia and Luxembourg, and Greece and
Kazakhstan.
But who will book their place in Germany next year?
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Euro 2024 Qualifying