Euro 2028: Hosts have to prove themselves in qualification!

Euro 2028: Hosts have to prove themselves in qualification!

The football world is looking forward to the 2028 UEFA European Championship, which will be held in collaboration between England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. This information was recently announced following a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Bilbao. All four host countries must take part in the qualification to secure a place in the tournament laola1.at reported.

Euro 2028 will be played in nine different stadiums from June 9 to July 9, 2029, with six of these stadiums in England and the others in Glasgow, Cardiff and Dublin. A total of 24 teams will take part in the tournament, with qualification taking place through twelve groups of four or five teams each. The twelve group winners and the eight best runners-up qualify directly for the final round of the European Championship sportschau.de added.

Special features of the qualification

Special attention is paid to the reserved places for hosts who do not qualify for sports. A total of two places are reserved for the top two non-qualified hosts. If all four hosts play through qualification, the number of open places for the play-offs would be correspondingly higher. In a scenario where two hosts fail, only two play-off spots remain, while if one host fails, three spots are available. This could lead to an exciting competition in the play-offs, as the remaining group runners-up and the best-placed non-qualified group winners of the 2026/27 Nations League fight for the remaining places laola1.at explained.

The draw for the qualification groups will take place in a transparent process. The four hosts will be drawn into different groups, which could increase their chances of successful qualification. Depending on the sporting performance, the following scenarios could occur in the final round: If all four hosts qualify for the tournament, all four teams would take part in the event sportschau.de reported.

Comparison with previous tournaments

Topics relating to qualification are also relevant in the context of the previous European Championships. The 2024 European Championships, considered to be of high quality, saw 20 of the 24 participants determined through a qualifying tournament, while three others were added through a play-off system. Here too, Germany automatically qualified as hosts, which represents an interesting comparison to the hosts of the 2028 European Championship. The Euro 2024 qualifiers took place between March and November 2023, promising a similar intense phase to the upcoming Euro 2028 qualifiers, as shown on Wikipedia can be read.