This Friday, at 9 p.m., Germany will kick off Euro 2024 against Scotland. A first match with high stakes for the “Mannschaft”, which qualified directly for the final phase. Why did the team not qualify for the Euro? Europe 1 takes stock.
Euro 2024 will kick off this Friday June 14 at 9 p.m. The first meeting will pit two teams from Group A against each other: Germany and Scotland. If Scotland had to prove itself to qualify for the competition – with 5 wins, one defeat and two draws – what about the level of the “Mannschaft”? Because, unlike all the other teams, Germany qualified directly for the final phase.
At issue: a UEFA rule, which allows the organizing country to be directly qualified in the group stage, without going through the qualifiers. “The organizing association of the final phase, Germany, is automatically qualified for the final phase. The remaining teams are drawn into ten groups of five or six teams”, we can read in the regulations of UEFA. The “Mannschaft” is also seeded in group A because it organizes the event. This also allows him to open up the competition.
Sixteenth in the Fifa rankings
20 of the 23 other teams present in the final stages qualified after the elimination matches. As for the last three teams, they qualified after the play-offs.
It remains to be seen whether this direct qualification to the final phase will be an asset for Germany. Sixteenth in the Fifa rankings, the “Mannschaft” was eliminated in the group stage during the last World Cups of 2018 and 2022, and only reached the round of 16 during the last Euro, in 2021.
