UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying draw: When was it? How did it work? Who was seeded?

When was the EURO 2024 qualifying draw?

The UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying took place at 12:00 CET on Sunday 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle exhibition centre in Frankfurt.

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

Group B: Netherlands, France, Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar

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

Group D: Croatia, Wales, Armenia, Türkiye, Latvia

Group E: Poland, Czechia, 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

How did the draw work?

• Fifty-three national associations participated in the qualifying draw.

• Germany as the organisers of the UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament are automatically qualified and therefore did not take part in the draw.

• All Russian teams are currently suspended following the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee of 28 February 2022 which has further been confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022. Russia were therefore not included in the UEFA European Football Championship 2022–24 qualifying draw.

• The 53 teams that participated in the qualifying draw were seeded based on the overall rankings of the UEFA Nations League 2022/23 and were allocated to ten qualification groups (seven groups of five teams and three groups of six teams).

The draw principles were unchanged compared to the previous edition. The specific adaptations are highlighted here below:

• The four finalists of the UEFA Nations League were drawn into groups of five teams, to allow them to participate in the finals in June 2023;

• Five country pairs were declared as prohibited. Those pairings could not be drawn into the same group: Armenia/Azerbaijan, Belarus/Ukraine, Gibraltar/Spain, Kosovo/Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo/Serbia.

• A maximum of two winter venues could be drawn into the same group: Belarus, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.

• Several country pairings were declared to represent an excessive travel distance. A maximum of one such pair could be drawn into the same group.

What were the seeding pots for the EURO 2024 draw?

UEFA Nations League (UNL) pot
Netherlands
Croatia
Spain
Italy

Pot 1
Denmark
Portugal
Belgium
Hungary
Switzerland
Poland

Pot 2
France
Austria
Czechia
England
Wales
Israel
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbia
Scotland
Finland

Pot 3
Ukraine
Iceland
Norway
Slovenia
Republic of Ireland
Albania
Montenegro
Romania
Sweden
Armenia

Pot 4
Georgia
Greece
Türkiye
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

How were teams seeded for the EURO 2024 qualifying draw?

The 53 teams involved in the draw were classified on the basis of the overall 2022/23 UEFA Nations League rankings issued on completion of the Nations League group stage. Based on these rankings, the teams were divided into seven pots: the 'UNL' pot, which contained the four Nations League finalists, followed by Pot 1 to Pot 6. The 'UNL' pot contained four teams, Pot 1 contained six teams, Pots 2 to 5 each contained ten teams and Pot 6 contained the three remaining teams.

The four Nations League finalists will play the final matches of this competition in June 2023. As a consequence, these teams have only eight matchdays available for the European Qualifiers group stage and were allocated to groups of five teams.

What was the draw procedure?

• The draw started with the 'UNL' Pot and Pot 1 before continuing from Pot 2 to Pot 6. Each pot was emptied entirely before proceeding to the next pot.

• As a rule, for each pot, the teams drawn were allocated in alphabetical order from Group A to Group J. In the 'UNL' Pot, the four UNL finalists were allocated in the order they were drawn to Groups A, B, C and D.

• In Pot 1, the teams were allocated in the order they were drawn to Groups E to J.

• As of Pot 2, when a draw condition applied or was anticipated to apply, the team drawn were allocated to the first available group in alphabetical order.

• Since Pot 6 only contained three teams, these teams were drawn into the sixth positions in Groups H to J to the first available group in alphabetical order.

Who were the EURO 2024 qualifying draw guests?

Four big-name former players (all past EURO finalists) were on stage to assist with the draw: Jürgen Klinsmann, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Gianluca Zambrotta and Demetrio Albertini.

Klinsmann and Riedle in action together at EURO '92Popperfoto via Getty Images

Lena, winner of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, also performed her latest release, Looking for Love.

How does the qualifying competition work?

There are ten groups: seven groups of five teams (Groups A–G) and three groups of six teams (Groups H–J). Teams play each other home and away in a round-robin system. Group matches are played according to the European Qualifiers match calendar from March to November 2023.

The ten group winners and the ten group runners-up qualify directly for the final tournament. The three remaining spots will be completed with the teams that qualify through the play-offs in March 2024.

When are the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches?

Qualifying match dates
23–25/03/2023 Matchday 1
26–28/03/2023 Matchday 2
16–17/06/2023 Matchday 3
19–20/06/2023 Matchday 4
07–09/09/2023 Matchday 5
10–12/09/2023 Matchday 6
12–14/10/2023 Matchday 7
15–17/10/2023 Matchday 8
16–18/11/2023 Matchday 9
19–21/11/2023 Matchday 10

Play-off match dates
21/03/2024 Play-off semi-finals
26/03/2024 Play-off finals

Final tournament dates
14/06/2024 UEFA EURO 2024 finals opener
14/07/2024 UEFA EURO 2024 final