November 17, 2019 - The Croatia national team secured their spot at the European Championships next summer after defeating Slovakia 3:1 in Rijeka on Saturday night. Here’s what they can expect next.
The first part of the qualifications for the 2020 European Championships will end on Tuesday when the final group games are scheduled. After Tuesday, we will know twenty national teams that have qualified, who will compete in the tournament from June 12 to July 12 in twelve host cities in twelve different countries.
The national teams confirmed for the Euros so far include Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The first game will be played in Group A, in Rome, Italy starting at 9 pm.
You can see a breakdown of the cities and stadiums hosting the competition below:
GROUP A
Rome (Italy) - Olimpico (72.698)
Baku (Azerbaijan) - Baku Olympic Stadium (68.700)
GROUP B
Saint Peterburg (Russia) - Gazprom Arena (68.134)
Copenhagen (Denmark) - Parken (38.065)
GROUP C
Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Johan Cruyff Arena (54.990)
Bucharest (Romania) - Arena National (55.600)
GROUP D
London (England) - Wembley (90.000)
Glasgow (Sweden) - Hampden Park (52.063)
GROUP E
Bilbao (Spain) - San Mames (53.332)
Dublin (Republic of Ireland) - Aviva (51.700)
GROUP F
Munich (Germany) - Allianz Arena (75.000)
Budapest (Hungary) - Puskas Arena (67.889)
ROUND OF 16
Bucharest, Copenhagen, Bilbao, London, Glasgow, Dublin, Budapest, Amsterdam
QUARTERFINAL
Saint Petersburg, Munich, Rome, Baku
SEMIFINAL
London
FINAL
London
The draw for the final tournament takes place at ROMEXPO in Bucharest on Saturday, November 30 at 6 pm.
The draw will involve the two top teams in the ten qualifying groups and the eventual four play-off winners (decided in March 2020, and identified as play-off winners. Recall, the final four places at the Euros are determined by the Nations League playoffs, which you can read more about here.
UEFA writes that the seedings are based on overall European Qualifiers rankings, including:
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
Croatia has a virtually confirmed among the top seeds, with Belgium and Italy being the only safe thus far. But there are also complications with these seeds. Some national teams may have to be transferred to a higher or lower qualitative group in order for the draw to be concluded normally. In addition, for political reasons, neither Russia, which has qualified, nor Kosovo, which can still qualify, can go to Group B.
All will be made more apparent after Tuesday, when the group qualifications are over and when we find out who qualified directly and must still qualify via the Nations League play-offs.
For now, we can be thankful that Croatia didn’t complicate their route to the tournament next summer.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
