Three teams will reach the final stages of UEFA EURO 2024 through the play-offs to be played on 21 and 26 March 2024.
The 2024 European Championship in Germany already has 21 of the 24 teams that will participate in the tournament next summer. The remaining three will be determined through the Playoffs to be held on March 21 and 26, 2024.
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Next one, Goal discusses the information provided by UEFA on how this type of play-off works to get to the continental tournament.
How play-off routes are formed, based on the final standings of the European qualifiers
Route C: Georgia / Greece / Kazakhstan / Luxembourg
Route B: Israel / Bosnia and Herzegovina / two teams are drawn between Finland, Ukraine and Iceland
Route A: Poland/Wales/a team drawn between Finland, Ukraine, Iceland/Estonia
What are the play-offs on each route?
Semi-finals – Route C: Georgia (1) – Luxembourg (4), Greece (2) – Kazakhstan (3)Semi-finals – Route B: Israel (1) – Ukraine/Iceland (4)*, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2) – Finland/Ukraine (3)*Semi-finals – Route A: Poland (1) – Estonia (4), Wales (2) – Finland/Ukraine/Iceland (3)
*If Finland is assigned to Route B in the draw, the highest ranked team will play Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ukraine or Iceland will play on Route B against Israel, the highest ranked team. If Ukraine and Iceland are assigned to Route B, top-ranked Ukraine would play Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iceland would play Israel.
End of route C: Georgia/Luxembourg – Greece/Kazakhstan (hosts by draw)
End of route B: Israel/Ukraine/Iceland – Bosnia and Herzegovina/Finland/Ukraine (host per tie)
End of route A: Poland/Estonia – Wales/Finland/Ukraine/Iceland (hosts per tie)
When are the play-off games?
There will be six semi-finals on March 21, 2024 and three finals on March 26, 2024. The three winning teams from those matches will complete the 24-team draw for the EURO final.
When and where will the play-off draw be held?
The draw for the play-offs will take place on Thursday, November 23 from 12:00 CET at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
Are these play-offs new?
There have been play-offs in six of the last seven European Championships. However, the UEFA EURO 2020 play-offs offered a different format. For the first time, the teams had to overcome more than one round and unlike all previous editions, the teams qualified for participation through the Nations League, instead of the European qualifying phase.
The same format was adopted for the 2022 FIFA World Cup European play-offs (although in that case only two Nations League teams qualified for the play-offs, along with ten second group winners from the qualifying stage). Qualifying tournaments), making it the third time that single-round matches have been used.
How do the play-offs work?
Twelve teams will be selected based on their performance in the competition Nations League 2022/23: Nominally first in the group of Leagues A, B and C, but if they have already qualified they will be replaced by the next highest ranked team in their league. The four play-off places are allocated to each competition in reverse alphabetical order, from League C to League A.
If fewer than four teams from a league participate in the play-offs, the first available place will be awarded to the highest placed team in the League D group, Estonia.
The remaining places are allocated on the basis of Nations League general classification 2022/23 to the top-ranked teams that have not yet qualified, with the restriction that the group winners of competitions A, B and C cannot play on a play-off route with teams from a higher competition.
Source: Goal