UEFA EURO 2020 final tournament draw: all you need to know
Saturday, November 30, 2019
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The final tournament draw took place in Bucharest on Saturday 30 November.
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When was it?
The draw for the UEFA EURO 2020 final tournament took place at ROMEXPO in Bucharest on Saturday 30 November.
GROUP STAGE FIXTURES CONFIRMED
UEFA EURO 2020 group stage draw
Group A: Turkey, Italy, Wales, Switzerland
Group B: Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, Play-off winner D (A)*
Group D: England, Croatia, Play-off winner C, Czech Republic
Group E: Spain, Sweden, Poland, Play-off winner B
Group F: Play-off winner A (D)*, Portugal, France, Germany
*Play-off Winner A is allocated to Group F and Play-off Winner D to Group C. If Romania qualify as Path A winners, they will play in Group C and Play-off Winner D will be switched to Group F. The play-off winners will be known in March 2020.
Play-off semi-finals
These were confirmed at a separate draw in Nyon on 22 November:
Path A: Iceland v Romania, Bulgaria v Hungary
Path B: Bosnia and Herzegovina v Northern Ireland, Slovakia v Republic of Ireland
Path C: Scotland v Israel, Norway v Serbia
Path D: Georgia v Belarus, North Macedonia v Kosovo
What were the pots for the finals draw?
The draw involved the two-top finishers in the ten qualifying groups (completed in November 2019) and the eventual four play-off winners (decided in March 2020).
Pot 1
Belgium
Italy (hosts)
England (hosts)
Germany (hosts)
Spain (hosts)
Ukraine
Pot 2
France
Poland
Switzerland
Croatia
Netherlands (hosts)
Russia (hosts)
Pot 3
Portugal
Turkey
Denmark (hosts)
Austria
Sweden
Czech Republic
Pot 4
Wales
Finland
Play-off winner A (Iceland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania)
Play-off winner B (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland)
Play-off winner C (Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Israel)
Play-off winner D (Georgia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus)
How did the draw work?
The draw spilt the 24 qualifiers into six groups of four. Qualified host nations were pre-paired in the same groups.
How were seedings calculated?
Seedings were based on overall European Qualifiers rankings, which were determined as follows (results against teams in sixth place are discarded):
a) final position in group
b) points
c) goal difference
d) goals scored
e) away goals scored
f) number of wins
g) number of away wins
h) lower disciplinary points total (3 points for red card including for second booking, 1 point for single yellow card for a player in a match)
i) position in overall UEFA Nations League rankings
Play-off winners were therefore all in the fourth seeding pot.
Why did some teams already know which groups they are in?
Host nations that qualify (or could qualify via the play-offs) were placed automatically in the following groups to ensure they are at home in at least two group games:
Group A: Italy*
Group B: Russia, Denmark*
Group C: Netherlands*, Romania
Group D: England*, Scotland
Group E: Spain*, Republic of Ireland
Group F: Germany*, Hungary
Qualified teams in bold
*Guaranteed to play all three group stage games at home having qualified via the European Qualifiers.
- As Russia and Denmark both reached UEFA EURO 2020 via the European Qualifiers, an additional draw was held on 22 November to decide which team plays all three group stage games at home; Russia will have two group stage home games.
- Due to decisions of the UEFA Executive Committee decisions valid at the time of the draw, the following teams could not be drawn together in the group stage:
• Bosnia and Herzegovina / Kosovo*
• Serbia / Kosovo*
• Russia / Kosovo*
• Ukraine / Russia (the restriction also applies to St Petersburg as group match venue)
*These clashes cannot happen during the group stage, because Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia are all in the play-offs and were therefore in the same pot. - All restrictions apply only to the group stage. It can therefore not be excluded that the above-mentioned teams would meet during the knockout stage of the tournament.
How will the finals work?
The tournament opens in Rome at 21:00 CET on 12 June 2020. The group stage runs, with up to four matches a day, until 24 June. The top two in each group and the four best third-placed teams progress to the round of 16, then we're into straight knockout fixtures. Wembley Stadium hosts the semi-finals and final.