Last Sunday, October 9, in Frankfurt am Main, the draw for the qualification groups of the 2024 European Championship took place, and as a result, Ukraine's national team learned its opponents.

On September 27, the Ukrainian team concluded their participation in the Nations League 2022/2023 by securing second place in Group 1 of League B. Consequently, in the overall Nations League ranking, our national team was placed at 22nd position, which sent them to the third pot for the Euro-2024 qualifying draw.

According to the results of the draw, the blue and yellow will be in Group C, where they will face Italy, England, North Macedonia, and Malta.

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Euro-2024. Qualifying Tournament

Group A: Spain, Scotland, Norway, Georgia, Cyprus.

Group B: Netherlands, France, Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar.

Group C: Italy, England, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Malta.

Group D: Croatia, Wales, Armenia, Turkey, Latvia.

Group E: Poland, Czech Republic, Albania, Faroe Islands, Moldova.

Group F: Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Estonia.

Group G: Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Lithuania.

Group H: Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland, San Marino.

Group I: Switzerland, Israel, Romania, Kosovo, Belarus, Andorra.

Group J: Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Liechtenstein.

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Tournament Calendar

The Euro-2024 qualifying tournament will take place over 10 windows from March to November 2023 (March 23–25 and 26–28, June 16–17 and 19–20, September 7–9 and 10–12, October 12–14 and 15–17, November 16–18 and 19–21). The spots to the final tournament with 24 teams, where Germany will already be waiting, will go to the top two national teams in each group. The fate of three additional slots will be decided in League B and C play-off matches on March 21st and 26th, 2024.

Play-Off Format

The UEFA Nations League/Euro-2024 play-offs will be held in a knockout format (two semi-finals and one final) across three divisions — Leagues A, B, and C. If the group winner of the Nations League has already qualified for Euro-2024 through this tournament's qualification process, their place in the play-offs will go to the next highest-ranked team in that division. If there are fewer than four teams left in a division who can participate in the knockout matches, the spot will be awarded by the league below based on overall Nations League ranking (the best team from League D has priority). Thus, each of the three play-offs will have its own winner, who will become a participant in Euro-2024.

The draw for the final tournament of the European Championship will take place in December 2023, and the event itself will run from June 14 to July 14, 2024.

Pot Composition Before Euro-2024 Qualification Draw

UNL Pot

Netherlands, Croatia, Spain, Italy

Pot 1

Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland

Pot 2

France, Austria, Czech Republic, England, Wales, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Scotland, Finland

Pot 3

Ukraine, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, Montenegro, Romania, Sweden, Armenia

Pot 4

Georgia, Greece, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia

Pot 5

Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Belarus, Lithuania, Gibraltar, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Malta

Pot 6

Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein

During the UEFA ceremony, several factors were taken into account for specific participants — political, geographical and organizational.

Classification Details

The so-called VIP pot UNL included the group winners of League A (this allowed four finalists to be placed in groups with five teams), while the first pot contained six of the next highest-ranked national teams according to the Nations League ranking (excluding Germany — the host of Euro-2024). These 10 teams led the qualifying groups for Euro-2024.

The overall Nations League ranking is calculated as follows: winners of League A groups have numbers 1—4, second-placed teams — 5—8, third-placed teams — 9—12, fourth-placed teams — 13—16, winners of League B groups — 17—20 and so on. However, note that due to Germany and the disqualification of Russia, this order has shifted for the Euro-2024 draw.

Thus, in this case, national teams with positions from 12th to 21st in the ranking entered the second pot, those from 22nd to 31st — into the third, those from 33rd to 42nd — into the fourth, those from 43rd to 52nd — into the fifth and those from 53rd to 55th — into the sixth.

The best among those who occupied identical positions in their groups were determined by a tiebreaker based on points, goal difference, number of goals scored, away goals scored, number of wins, away wins, fair play points, and UEFA coefficient.

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