Tuesday will see the conclusion of the first stage of the Euro 2024 qualification campaign, with 19 nations having now joined hosts Germany in securing their spots at next year’s tournament.
That leaves four places still to be decided, with one of those to be confirmed on Tuesday when Wales and Croatia battle for second place in Group D, while a further three spots will go to play-off winners next March.
Here, we run through the permutations and the teams that have already booked their tickets to the Euros on a group-by-group basis.
GROUP A (Qualified: Spain and Scotland)
Group A was wrapped up on Sunday, as Spain beat Georgia 3-1 in Valladolid and Scotland played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Norway at Hampden Park.
Those results saw La Roja confirm top spot and a place as one of the top seeds for next month’s tournament group-stage draw. Scotland go into pot three after finishing as runners-up while Georgia will compete in the play-offs next March. Erling Haaland and Norway will miss out on the tournament.
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GROUP B (Qualified: France and Netherlands)
Group B contains two major players, and two-time World Cup winners France have made light work of qualification, winning all seven of their matches while only conceding one goal, including a 14-0 rout of Gibraltar on Saturday.
The Netherlands did find themselves battling Greece for second place, but Saturday’s hard-fought 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland saw them seal their place at the tournament. Greece will now go into the play-offs, while Ireland and Gibraltar cannot qualify by any means.
GROUP C (Qualified: England and Italy)
Gareth Southgate’s England secured qualification with October’s 3-1 win over Italy, and the reigning European champions joined them in their final game on Monday.
A goalless draw with Ukraine – in which Serhiy Rebrov’s men were controversially denied a late penalty – saw the Azzurri finish second by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker. They will only be seeded third or fourth for the group-stage draw after finishing six points behind England, while Ukraine will go into the play-offs.
Putting in the work ???? pic.twitter.com/YFrVwf1BJY
— England (@England) November 16, 2023
GROUP D (Qualified: Turkey)
Have Wales squandered their chance to qualify automatically? Turkey have wrapped up top spot after an impressive campaign, and Croatia are second with one game to go after Wales were held to a 1-1 draw by Armenia on Saturday.
Croatia will now qualify if they post a home win against Armenia on Tuesday, with Rob Page’s team needing to beat the group leaders and hope last year’s World Cup bronze medallists fail to win. Whoever falls short, however, is guaranteed to have a second chance in the play-offs.
GROUP E (Qualified: Albania and Czech Republic)
Albania secured their place at the Euros with Friday’s draw against Moldova. Robert Lewandowski and Poland will have to go through the play-offs after rounding their campaign off with a draw against the Czech Republic on the same day.
The group was then wrapped up on Monday with the Czech Republic securing second place with a 3-0 win over direct rivals Moldova, who have missed out on both automatic qualification and the play-offs.
GROUP F (Qualified: Belgium and Austria)
Belgium and Austria have both qualified, with Domenico Tedesco’s Red Devils securing top spot with Sunday’s 5-0 thrashing of Azerbaijan in their final game. Another tournament regular has missed out on qualification, however, with Sweden finishing third.
GROUP G (Qualified: Hungary and Serbia)
Hungary finished top of Group G, with Serbia joining them in qualifying automatically by drawing 2-2 with Bulgaria when this section was wrapped up on Sunday.
GROUP H (Qualified: Denmark and Slovenia)
Denmark overcame Slovenia 2-1 on Friday to secure their place at the tournament before rounding off their campaign with Monday’s surprise 2-0 defeat in Northern Ireland. Slovenia qualified in second place with a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan on matchday 10.
As many as four teams from this group could still reach the tournament, with Kazakhstan and Finland going into different play-off branches, but Northern Ireland have missed out on qualification.
8 #EURO2024 qualifiers ???? 7 goals
Rasmus Højlund ???????????? pic.twitter.com/j7mVgs7OWQ
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) November 17, 2023
GROUP I (Qualified: Switzerland and Romania)
Switzerland and Romania secured qualification on Saturday. The Swiss drew 1-1 with Kosovo while Romania triumphed 2-1 against Israel, and Tuesday’s head-to-head meeting between the teams will decide who finishes top of Group I.
Israel have taken a play-off place, with Kosovo, Belarus and Andorra all eliminated.
GROUP J (Qualified: Portugal and Slovakia)
Portugal dominated Group J, winning all 10 of their games and scoring 36 goals in the process in what represents a flying start to life under Roberto Martinez.
They, along with Slovakia, will be part of next year’s tournament, while Luxembourg, Iceland and Bosnia and Herzegovina are all play-off-bound.
A touch of class from Cristiano Ronaldo ????????????#EQSkills | @HisenseSports pic.twitter.com/BKSuu3f0SL
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) November 16, 2023
HOW DO THE PLAY-OFFS WORK?
Teams that failed to qualify automatically can still reach the tournament via the play-offs, which will be held next March. There will be three play-off branches, each consisting of a four-team knockout tournament.
Leagues A, B and C from the Nations League are assigned one qualification spot each, so the top four teams from each league (based on 2022-23 Nations League results) who fail to qualify automatically will compete for a place in Germany.
Ahead of Tuesday’s final set of group-stage games, 11 of the 12 total play-off places had already been decided, with the final spot set to go to Wales or Croatia depending on who fails to qualify.
