France and England are the favorites to win the European Championship, hosted by their rival Germany from June 14th. The tournament will be held in some of the best stadiums across the continent, in a country obsessed with football.
Unlike the previous finals held in the summer of 2021 across 11 cities and 11 countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the tournament, the seventeenth edition will be held in one location in Germany, with full attendance and no COVID-19 restrictions.
The Germans will relive memories of 2006 when they hosted the last major tournament on their soil, the World Cup, where they reached the semi-finals before being eliminated by Italy, who later won the title and will defend their continental crown this summer.
The Germans hope that this continental finals will remain memorable, despite security concerns in a tense global climate and complaints about the country's dilapidated railway network.
In the 2006 World Cup, doubts surrounded the host team, even though they were runners-up in the previous edition in 2002, but they reached the semi-finals before being eliminated by Italy 2-0 after extra time.
The situation is similar this time, as doubts cast a shadow over coach Julian Nagelsmann's team, especially since "Die Mannschaft," the 2014 World Cup winners, were eliminated from the group stage in their last two World Cup appearances in 2018 and 2022, and their journey ended in the round of 16 in the last European Championship.
Host Nation's Chances
However, it would be naive to underestimate the German national team and their chances of winning the continental title for the fourth time in their history, especially with the quality of players available to Nagelsmann, who said, "I have a feeling that we can win the tournament. And most of the time, my intuition is right."
Nagelsmann hopes his prediction will be accurate from the opening match, which brings the host country together with Scotland in Munich.
France and England remain the favorites on paper to lift the Henri Delaunay Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on July 14th.
These predictions are not unfounded. France is the highest-ranked team among the European nations and reached the World Cup final in the last two editions, winning their second title in 2018 in Russia.
The French national team has also developed since losing the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar to Lionel Messi and his teammates in the Argentine national team, and the quality of players available to coach Didier Deschamps is very high, led by Kylian Mbappé, who officially transferred on Monday to the Spanish club Real Madrid, the European champions.
For Deschamps, who contributed to leading his country as a player to their second and last continental title in 2000, France, "like other countries, has the ability to go all the way, but we shouldn't think about the semi-finals or a potential final yet."
It's well-known in football or any other sport that the field decides, not predictions, but if the expected happens and France and England top their groups, they will be on a collision course to meet in the semi-finals at the famous Signal Iduna Park stadium of Borussia Dortmund.
England carries the burden of never having won the European Championship in its history. After the painful penalty shootout loss to Italy in the continental championship final in 2021 at Wembley, coach Gareth Southgate's team fell in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, narrowly losing to France.
Based on their results and level, England should be taken into account in the 2024 Germany finals, and the two men who can give them the advantage are Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.
The English hope to benefit from Kane's experience on German soil, where he excelled in his first season in the Bundesliga, scoring 44 goals in 45 matches he played with Bayern Munich in all competitions.
Bellingham was also one of the stars of the German league before leaving Dortmund last summer to join Real Madrid and contribute to leading the royal club to a domestic league and Champions League double.
Italy and the Group of Death
For Southgate, "Are we one of the teams capable of winning the title? Of course," adding, "I would be stupid to say no, but saying yes doesn't mean there isn't a lot of work ahead of us," starting against Serbia on June 16th in Group C, before facing Denmark and Slovenia.
After missing the last World Cup for the second time in a row, Italy will be in Germany to defend their continental title, despite losing twice to England in the qualifiers.
The task of the four-time world champions will not be easy at all, as they have been drawn into the "Group of Death" (Group B) alongside Spain, which is looking to regain its lost status since its historic treble in the 2008 European Championship, 2010 World Cup, and 2012 European Championship, and Portugal, the 2016 champions, who still rely on the contributions of their historic star Cristiano Ronaldo despite his 39 years and move to play with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Belgium and the Netherlands also hope to make their mark, but the European Championship, in its third edition since expanding to 24 teams, is characterized by the presence of lesser-known teams.
Ukraine will receive great sympathy due to the Russian invasion of the country and will have a good team under the leadership of Serhiy Rebrov, while Albania, led by Brazilian Sylvinho, will participate in the continental championship for only the second time.
It will be exciting to follow the newcomer, the Georgian national team, supervised by former Bayern Munich and French national team defender Willy Sagnol and led by Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The Georgian national team's baptism of fire will begin on June 18th against Turkey at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, which will be among the ten stadiums hosting the finals across Germany.
