From Thursday, twelve nations will fight in the playoff semi-finals for the last tickets for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. What you need to know about it.
Who else is there?
There are three playoff tournaments. Poland, Wales, Finland and Estonia are taking part in Tournament A. Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Iceland will fight for victory in Tournament B, and Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan and Luxembourg will compete in Tournament C.
What is the mode?
Each tournament will feature two semi-finals (March 21) and one final (March 26). The winners of these three finals go to the European Championships. All playoff games are decided in just one game in the knockout format. If there is a draw after regular time, there will be extra time. If necessary, there will then be a penalty shootout.
European Championship playoffs, semi-finals arrow right
Who is playing against whom?
It comes in Semifinals to the following games:
Tournament A: Poland – Estonia, Wales – Finland
Tournament B: Israel – Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Ukraine
Tournament C: Georgia – Luxembourg, Greece – Kazakhstan
Die Finals look like this:
Tournament A: Wales/Finland – Poland/Estonia
Tournament B: Bosnia-Herzegovina/Ukraine – Israel/Iceland
Tournament C: Georgia/Luxembourg – Greece/Kazakhstan
Where is the game played?
In the semi-finals, the teams better placed in the Nations League have home advantage. Home rights were drawn for the finals: the winners of the duels between Wales against Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina against Ukraine and Georgia against Luxembourg can play at home.
The game between Israel and Iceland will take place in Budapest due to the war in the Middle East.
Who will the playoff winners face at the European Championships?
The final round was drawn on December 3, 2023, so it is already clear which group the respective playoff winners will play in.
Group D: Winner of tournament ANetherlands, Austria, France
Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Winner of tournament B
Group F: Türkiye, Winner of tournament CPortugal, Czech Republic
How were the playoff participants even determined?
The results from the European Championship qualification played no role. The twelve nations were selected based solely on their performance in the 2022/23 Nations League – nominally the group winners of leagues A, B and C. However, if they had already qualified for the tournament in Germany through the regular European Championship qualification, they were replaced by the next best team in their league.
If fewer than four teams from a league made it to the playoffs, the first available place went to the best-placed group winner from League D. Estonia benefited from this.
The remaining places were awarded to the best-placed teams that had not yet qualified based on the overall ranking of the 2022/23 Nations League. The restriction applied that group winners in leagues A, B and C could not get into a playoff tournament with higher-placed teams.
The highest-placed teams host the fourth-placed teams, and the second-placed teams face the third-placed teams. The hosts of the finals were drawn in November 2023 in Nyon, Switzerland.
