Flâneur: UEFA Euro 2020

The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, is scheduled to be the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

The tournament, to be held in 12 cities in 12 UEFA countries, was originally scheduled to take place from 12 June to 12 July 2020. On 17 March 2020, UEFA announced that the tournament would be postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and proposed it take place from 11 June to 11 July 2021, which was confirmed on 17 June 2020. The competition was postponed in order to reduce pressure on the public services in affected countries and to allow time for the completion of domestic leagues that had been suspended. The tournament will still retain the name "UEFA Euro 2020".

UEFA President Michel Platini said the tournament is being hosted in several nations as a "romantic" one-off event to celebrate the 60th "birthday" of the European Championship competition. Having the largest capacity of any of the stadiums entered for the competition, Wembley Stadium in London is scheduled to host the semi-finals and final for the second time, having done so before at the 1996 tournament in the stadium's former incarnation. The Stadio Olimpico in Rome was chosen to host the opening game, involving Turkey and hosts Italy.

Portugal are the defending champions, having won the 2016 competition. For the first time, the video assistant referee (VAR) system will be used at the UEFA European Championship.

Bid process

While some countries had already expressed an interest in bidding to host the tournament, then-UEFA President Michel Platini suggested at a press conference on 30 June 2012, a day before the UEFA Euro 2012 Final, that instead of having one host country (or joint hosting by multiple countries), the tournament could be spread over "12 or 13 cities" across the continent. At the time, UEFA already used a similar system for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship's Elite Round, where each of the seven groups is hosted by a different country.

European format decision

On 6 December 2012, UEFA announced the tournament would be held in multiple cities across Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the tournament. The selection of the host cities did not guarantee an automatic qualifying berth to the national team of that country.

UEFA reasoned that the pan-European staging of the tournament was the logical decision at a time of financial difficulty across Europe. Reaction to UEFA's plan was mixed across Europe. Critics have cited the expanded format (from 31 matches featuring 16 nations to 51 featuring 24) and its associated additional costs as the decisive factor for only one nation (Turkey) having put forward a serious bid.

Bidding venues

The final list of bids was published by UEFA on 26 April 2014, with a decision on the hosts being made by the UEFA Executive Committee on 19 September 2014. There were two bids for the Finals Package (of which one was successful, marked with blue for semi-finals and final) and 19 bids for the Standard Package (of which 12 were initially successful, marked with green for quarter-finals and group stage, and yellow for round of 16 and group stage); Brussels, marked with red, were initially selected but removed from the list of venues by UEFA on 7 December 2017 and the planned games there were moved to London.

Successful bid for group stage and round of 16

Successful bid for group stage and quarter-finals

Successful bid for semi-finals and final. Later added: Group stage and round of 16

Successful bid for group stage and round of 16 at first but later removed from list

Unsuccessful bid (either rejected as judged by UEFA to not fulfill the bid requirements, or eliminated by vote)

Country	City	Venue	Capacity	Package	Result
Azerbaijan	Baku	Olympic Stadium	68,700	Standard Package	Group stage and quarter-finals
Belarus	Minsk	Dinamo Stadium	34,000 (to be expanded to 39,000)	Standard Package	Rejected
Belgium	Brussels	Eurostadium (proposed new national stadium)	50,000 (62,613 potentially)	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16 (later cancelled)
Bulgaria	Sofia	Vasil Levski National Stadium	43,000 (to be expanded to 50,000)	Standard Package	Rejected
Denmark	Copenhagen	Parken Stadium	38,065	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
England	London	Wembley Stadium	90,000	Finals Package (withdrawn Standard Package)	Semi-finals and final Group stage and round of 16 (later added)
Germany	Munich	Allianz Arena	70,000	Standard Package, Finals Package	Group stage and quarter-finals
Hungary	Budapest	Puskás Aréna	56,000 (proposed new 67,215 stadium)	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
Israel	Jerusalem	Teddy Stadium	34,000 (to be expanded to 53,000)	Standard Package	Rejected
Italy	Rome	Stadio Olimpico	72,698	Standard Package	Group stage and quarter-finals
Macedonia	Skopje	Philip II Arena	33,460	Standard Package	Rejected
Netherlands	Amsterdam	Johan Cruyff Arena	54,990 (to be expanded to around 56,000)	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
Republic of Ireland	Dublin	Aviva Stadium	51,700	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
Romania	Bucharest	Arena Națională	55,600	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
Russia	Saint Petersburg	Krestovsky Stadium	68,134	Standard Package	Group stage and quarter-finals
Scotland	Glasgow	Hampden Park	51,866	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
Spain	Bilbao	San Mamés	53,289	Standard Package	Group stage and round of 16
Sweden	Solna, Stockholm	Friends Arena	54,329	Standard Package	Eliminated
Wales	Cardiff	Millennium Stadium	74,500	Standard Package	Eliminated

COVID-19 pandemic and postponement

In early 2020, the pandemic in Europe of COVID-19 raised concerns regarding its potential impact on players, staff and visitors to the twelve host cities of the tournament. At the UEFA Congress in early March, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said the organisation was confident that the situation could be dealt with, while general secretary Theodore Theodoridis stated that UEFA was maintaining contact with the World Health Organization and national governments regarding the coronavirus. The impact on football grew later that month, as numerous domestic and UEFA competition matches began taking place behind closed doors. By 13 March 2020, upcoming UEFA competition fixtures were postponed, while major European leagues were suspended, including the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, Premier League and Serie A.

UEFA held a videoconference on 17 March 2020 with representatives of its 55 member associations, along with a FIFPro representative and the boards of the European Club Association and European Leagues, to discuss the response to the outbreak for domestic and European competitions, including Euro 2020. At the meeting, UEFA announced that the tournament would be postponed to the following year, proposing that it take place from 11 June to 11 July 2021. The postponement allowed for pressure to be reduced on the public services in affected countries, while also providing space in the calendar for domestic European leagues that had been suspended to complete their seasons. On the following day, the Bureau of the FIFA Council approved the date change in the FIFA International Match Calendar. As a result, the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which was due to take place in June and July 2021, will be rescheduled. On 23 April 2020, UEFA confirmed that the tournament would still be known as UEFA Euro 2020.

In May 2020, Čeferin stated that in principle the tournament would take place in the twelve selected host cities. However, he did not rule out the possibility of reducing the number of cities, as three hosts were unsure if matches could be held under the new schedule. The tournament venues and match schedule was reviewed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 17 June 2020. At the meeting, UEFA confirmed that all twelve original host venues would remain as hosts for the tournament in 2021. However, Čeferin stated in October 2020 that it was still possible that the tournament could be played in fewer than the planned twelve host countries. The following month, UEFA stated that it "intends to hold Euro 2020 in the format and the venues confirmed earlier this year and we are working closely with all host cities on preparations". It was also announced that each host was discussing with UEFA and local health authorities on whether the venue could host matches at full capacity, between 100% and 50% capacity, at 33% capacity or behind closed doors. Each host city was asked to draw up two or three plans from the four options. The restrictions could also involve only local spectators to be permitted at matches. A final decision on which scenario will be applied individually at each venue was originally to be made on 5 March 2021.

In a New Year's interview, Čeferin said, "Vaccination has started and I think we will be able to have full stands in the summer. For now, the plan is to play in all twelve countries. Of course, there are backup options in case a country has a problem. We are ready to organise competitions in eleven, ten or nine cities... and even only in one country, if necessary. However, I am 99.9 percent sure that we will have the European Championship in all twelve cities, as planned." On 27 January 2021, UEFA met with the host associations to discuss operational matters, and reaffirmed the tournament would be held across twelve cities. The deadline for hosts to submit their venue capacity plans was moved to early April. UEFA announced on the following day that Daniel Koch, the former head of communicable diseases at Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health, would serve as the tournament's medical advisor on matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Qualification

Team qualified for UEFA Euro 2020

Team failed to qualify

There was no automatic qualifying berth, and all 55 UEFA national teams, including the 12 national teams whose countries are scheduled to stage matches, had to compete in the qualifiers for the 24 places at the finals tournament. As the host cities were appointed by UEFA in September 2014, before the qualifiers, it was possible for the national teams from the host cities to fail to qualify for the finals tournament.

The qualifying draw was held on 2 December 2018 at the Convention Centre Dublin in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

The main qualifying process started in March 2019, instead of immediately in September 2018 following the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and ended in November 2019. The format remained largely the same, although only 20 of the 24 spots for the finals tournament were decided from the main qualifying process, leaving four spots still to be decided. Following the admission of Kosovo to UEFA in May 2016, it was announced that the 55 members at the time would be drawn into ten groups after the completion of the UEFA Nations League (five groups of five teams and five groups of six teams, with the four participants of the UEFA Nations League Finals guaranteed to be drawn into groups of five teams), with the top two teams in each group qualifying. The qualifiers were played on double matchdays in March, June, September, October and November 2019.

With the creation of the UEFA Nations League starting in 2018, the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was linked with Euro qualifying, providing teams another chance to qualify for the tournament. Four teams from each division that had not already qualified for the European Championship competed in the play-offs for each division. The winners of the play-offs for each division, which were decided by two one-off semi-finals (the best-ranked team vs. the fourth-best-ranked team, and the second-best-ranked team vs. the third-best-ranked team, played at home of higher-ranked teams) and a one-off final (with the venue drawn in advance between the two semi-finals winners), joined the twenty teams that had already qualified for the tournament.

Qualified teams

Of the 24 teams that qualified for the tournament, 19 are returning from the 2016 edition. Among them are Belgium and Italy, who both recorded flawless qualifying campaigns (10 wins in 10 matches), defending European champions Portugal and world champions France, with Germany also qualifying for a record 13th straight European Championship. Finland and North Macedonia will make their European Championship debut, having never previously qualified for a major tournament. Scotland, a co-host of the tournament, qualified for their first major international tournament since the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and their first European Championship since 1996.The Netherlands and Denmark returned after missing out in 2016, with the Dutch featuring in a major tournament for the first time since the 2014 FIFA World Cup. For the first time, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Wales reached successive European Championship tournaments. Greece, winners in 2004, were the only former champions that failed to qualify, missing their second straight European Championship and third consecutive major tournament. Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Romania failed to qualify after appearing in the 2016 finals.

Of the twelve host countries, seven managed to qualify directly for the tournament, while Hungary and Scotland qualified via the play-offs. The Republic of Ireland and Romania were eliminated in the semi-finals of the play-offs, and Azerbaijan were eliminated following the qualifying group stage.

Team [A]	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament [B]
Belgium	Group I winner	10 October 2019	05 (1972, 1980, 1984, 2000, 2016)
Italy	Group J winner	12 October 2019	09 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Russia [C]	Group I runner-up	13 October 2019	11 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Poland	Group G winner	13 October 2019	03 (2008, 2012, 2016)
Ukraine	Group B winner	14 October 2019	02 (2012, 2016)
Spain	Group F winner	15 October 2019	10 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
France	Group H winner	14 November 2019	09 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Turkey	Group H runner-up	14 November 2019	4 (1996, 2000, 2008, 2016)
England	Group A winner	14 November 2019	9 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012, 2016)
Czech Republic [D]	Group A runner-up	14 November 2019	9 (1960, 1976, 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Finland	Group J runner-up	15 November 2019	0 (debut)
Sweden	Group F runner-up	15 November 2019	6 (1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Croatia	Group E winner	16 November 2019	5 (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Austria	Group G runner-up	16 November 2019	2 (2008, 2016)
Netherlands	Group C runner-up	16 November 2019	09 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
Germany [E]	Group C winner	16 November 2019	12 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Portugal	Group B runner-up	17 November 2019	7 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
Switzerland	Group D winner	18 November 2019	4 (1996, 2004, 2008, 2016)
Denmark	Group D runner-up	18 November 2019	8 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012)
Wales	Group E runner-up	19 November 2019	1 (2016)
North Macedonia	Play-off Path D winner	12 November 2020	0 (debut)
Hungary	Play-off Path A winner	12 November 2020	3 (1964, 1972, 2016)
Slovakia	Play-off Path B winner	12 November 2020	1 (2016)
Scotland	Play-off Path C winner	12 November 2020	2 (1992, 1996)

^ Italic indicates team from one of the twelve host associations.
^ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
^ From 1960 to 1988, Russia competed as the Soviet Union, and in 1992 as CIS.
^ From 1960 to 1980, the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.
^ From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.

Venues

The venues were selected and announced by UEFA on 19 September 2014.^[64] However, the UEFA Executive Committee removed Brussels as a host city on 7 December 2017 due to delays with the building of the Eurostadium. The four matches (three group stage, one round of 16) initially scheduled to be held in Brussels were reallocated to London. Therefore, Wembley Stadium will host a total of seven matches, as London was already chosen to host the semi-finals and final of the tournament.^[65] On 7 December 2017, it was also announced that the opening match would take place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, chosen ahead of Amsterdam, Glasgow and Saint Petersburg. UEFA decided that, should they qualify, the opening match would feature Italy.^[65]^[66]

Of the 12 selected cities and countries, 8 cities and 7 countries have never hosted a European Championship finals match before. Bilbao was not a venue when Spain hosted the 1964 European Nations' Cup, and none of Azerbaijan, Denmark, Hungary, Romania, Republic of Ireland, Russia, or Scotland has hosted the tournament previously. Of the 12 selected stadia, only 2 have hosted a European Championship match before: the Stadio Olimpico (1968 and 1980) and the Johan Cruyff Arena (2000). The original Wembley stadium hosted games and the final in UEFA Euro 1996, but although it stands on the same site, this is classified as a different stadium to the current Wembley Stadium.

In October 2020, it was announced that UEFA matches would be suspended from taking place in Armenia and Azerbaijan until further notice due to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.^[67] However, this will not affect the planning of Euro 2020 matches to be held in Baku.^[68]

London	Munich	Rome	Baku
Wembley Stadium	Allianz Arena	Stadio Olimpico	Olympic Stadium
Capacity: 90,000	Capacity: 75,000	Capacity: 72,698	Capacity: 68,700

Saint Petersburg	London Munich Rome Baku Saint Petersburg Bucharest Amsterdam Dublin Bilbao Budapest Glasgow Copenhagen		Budapest
Krestovsky Stadium			Puskás Aréna
Capacity: 68,134			Capacity: 67,215

Bucharest			Amsterdam
Arena Națională			Johan Cruyff Arena
Capacity: 55,600			Capacity: 54,990

Bilbao	Glasgow	Dublin	Copenhagen
San Mamés	Hampden Park	Aviva Stadium	Parken Stadium
Capacity: 53,332	Capacity: 51,866	Capacity: 51,700	Capacity: 38,065

Each city will host three group stage matches and one match in the round of 16 or quarter-finals. The match allocation for the 12 stadiums is as follows:

Group stage, round of 16, semi-finals, and final: London (England)
Group stage and quarter-finals: Munich (Germany), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Rome (Italy)
Group stage and round of 16: Copenhagen (Denmark), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland)

The host cities were divided into six pairings, established on the basis of sporting strength (assuming all host teams qualify), geographical considerations, and security/political constraints. The pairings were allocated to groups by means of a random draw on 7 December 2017. Each qualified host country will play a minimum of two matches at home. The group venue pairings is as follows:^[65]

Group A: Rome (Italy) and Baku (Azerbaijan)
Group B: Saint Petersburg (Russia) and Copenhagen (Denmark)
Group C: Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Bucharest (Romania)
Group D: London (England) and Glasgow (Scotland)
Group E: Bilbao (Spain) and Dublin (Republic of Ireland)
Group F: Munich (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary)

The following criteria apply to define the home matches of host teams within the same group:^[69]

If both host teams qualified directly or both advanced to the play-offs, a draw would determine which team would play all three group stage matches at home (i.e. which would host the head-to-head match), and which one would play only two matches at home.
If one host team qualified directly, and the other failed to also directly qualify, the directly qualified host team would play all three group stage matches at home, and the other host, if qualified, would play only two.
If one host team advances to the play-offs, and the other is eliminated entirely, the host team in the play-offs, if qualified, will play all three group stage matches at home.
No action was necessary should both host teams fail to qualify.

If a host team in the play-offs failed to qualify, the path winner will take the spot of the host in the match schedule and therefore would play the two or three matches based on the above criteria in the host city of the respective host that failed to qualify. The draw took place on 22 November 2019, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland (along with the draw for the play-offs).^[70] In the draw, which was only necessary for Group B (Denmark and Russia), two balls were prepared, with the first drawn hosting the three matches.^[71]

Allocation of group stage home matches to host countries
Group	Host	Status following the completion of the qualifying group stage	Draw?	Host with three home matches	Host with two home matches
A	Azerbaijan	Eliminated in qualifying group stage	No	Italy	None
A	Italy	Qualified directly to finals	No	Italy	None
B	Denmark	Qualified directly to finals	Yes	Denmark	Russia
B	Russia	Qualified directly to finals	Yes	Denmark	Russia
C	Netherlands	Qualified directly to finals	No	Netherlands	None
C	Romania	Advanced to play-offs (later eliminated)	No	Netherlands	None
D	England	Qualified directly to finals	No	England	Scotland
D	Scotland	Advanced to play-offs (later qualified)	No	England	Scotland
E	Republic of Ireland	Advanced to play-offs (later eliminated)	No	Spain	None
E	Spain	Qualified directly to finals	No	Spain	None
F	Germany	Qualified directly to finals	No	Germany	Hungary
F	Hungary	Advanced to play-offs (later qualified)	No	Germany	Hungary

Team base camps[edit]

Each team chooses a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. The teams will train and reside in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases. Unlike previous tournaments, each team can set up their base camp anywhere due to the pan-European format, without any obligation of staying in any of the host countries.^[72]

The base camps selected by the twenty directly qualified teams were announced by UEFA on 27 January 2020.^[73]

Team	Base camp
Austria	Seefeld in Tirol, Austria
Belgium	Tubize, Belgium
Croatia	St Andrews, Scotland
Czech Republic	Currie, Edinburgh, Scotland
Denmark	Helsingør, Denmark
England	Burton upon Trent, England
Finland	Repino, Saint Petersburg, Russia
France	Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, France
Germany	Herzogenaurach, Germany
Hungary	TBC
Italy	Coverciano, Florence, Italy
Netherlands	Zeist, Netherlands
North Macedonia	TBC
Poland	Portmarnock, Republic of Ireland
Portugal	Budapest, Hungary
Russia	Khimki, Russia
Scotland	TBC
Slovakia	TBC
Spain	Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain
Sweden	Maynooth, Republic of Ireland
Switzerland	Rome, Italy
Turkey	Baku, Azerbaijan
Ukraine	Bucharest, Romania
Wales	Baku, Azerbaijan

Final draw[edit]

The draw for the final tournament was held on 30 November 2019, 18:00 CET (19:00 local time, EET) at Romexpo in Bucharest, Romania.^[74]^[75]^[76]^[63] The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four. The identity of the four play-off teams were not known at the time of the draw and were identified as play-off winners A to D.^[77] Should there have been groups that could not be finalised at the time of the final tournament draw, another draw would have been held after the play-offs on 1 April 2020,^[1] but UEFA confirmed the additional draw was not necessary after the identity of the 20 directly qualified teams and the 16 play-offs teams was known.^[71]

The teams were seeded in accordance with the European Qualifiers overall ranking based on their results in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying. The following was the standard composition of the draw pots:^[78]

Pot 1: Group winners ranked 1–6
Pot 2: Group winners ranked 7–10, group runners-up ranked 1–2 (11–12 overall)
Pot 3: Group runners-up ranked 3–8 (13–18 overall)
Pot 4: Group runners-up ranked 9–10 (19–20 overall), play-off winners A–D (identity unknown at the time of the draw)

As two host teams from the same group could not be in the same seeding pot, the UEFA Emergency Panel would have either switched one host team with the lowest-ranked team of the higher pot, or switched one host team with the highest-ranked team of the lower pot (based on the principle that the move would have minimal impact on the original seeding). However, no seeding adjustments were necessary.

The draw started with Pot 1 and completed with Pot 4, from where a team was drawn and assigned to the first available group. The position in the group (for the determination of the match schedule) was then drawn. In the draw, the following conditions applied (including for teams that could still qualify via the play-offs):^[79]

Automatic group assignments: Host teams were automatically assigned to their group based on the host city pairings.
Prohibited clashes: For political reasons, UEFA set pairs of teams that were considered prohibited clashes. In addition to being unable to be drawn into the same group, non-host teams were prevented from being drawn into a group hosted by a country they clash with, even should the host not qualify. Only one prohibited clash, Russia / Ukraine, applied during the group stage draw. Other prohibited clashes among qualified and play-off teams were Kosovo / Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo / Serbia, but the teams in these pairs were all in the play-offs and in Pot 4 for the draw, and would not be in the same group; Kosovo / Russia was also prohibited,^[80] but they also would not be in the same group due to play-off path pairings necessary for host allocation. However, these prohibited clashes are not excluded for the knockout phase.

Play-off path group allocation[edit]

Due to the format of the play-offs, which made anticipating all possible scenarios impossible, the UEFA administration had to wait to solve issues relating to the final tournament draw until the completion of the qualifying group stage.^[69] It was not possible for UEFA to prevent one of the play-off paths from containing two host teams, resulting in Romania (Group C hosts) and Hungary (Group F hosts) being drawn together in Path A. Therefore, the winner of this play-off path needed to be assigned two groups in the final tournament draw. To allow for this, Path A was paired with Path D (which does not contain a host), therefore providing a clear scenario for each possible qualified team. A draw took place on 22 November 2019, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland (along with the draw for the play-offs), which decided on the order of priority for the allocation of Path A to the final tournament groups.^[71]

Two balls were prepared containing the names of the two groups hosted by the teams in question (Group C and Group F for Romania and Hungary, respectively). The first ball drawn determined the group ("priority group") that was allocated to Path A, with the exception of the host team of the second ball drawn ("non-priority group") winning Path A. In the draw, Group F was selected as the priority group, resulting in the following possible outcomes:

Path A is won by Bulgaria, Hungary or Iceland: The winner of Path A will enter Group F, and the winner of Path D will enter Group C. (As Romania lost in the semi-finals of the play-offs, this was the resulting group assignment.)
Path A is won by Romania: Romania will enter Group C, and the winner of Path D will enter Group F.

Seeding[edit]

The following was the composition of the pots:^[81]

Pot 1
Team	Host	Rank
Belgium^[a]		1
Italy	Group A	2
England	Group D	3
Germany	Group F	4
Spain	Group E	5
Ukraine^[a]		6

Pot 2
Team	Host	Rank
France		7
Poland		8
Switzerland		9
Croatia		10
Netherlands	Group C	11
Russia	Group B	12

Pot 3
Team	Host	Rank
Portugal		13
Turkey		14
Denmark	Group B	15
Austria		16
Sweden		17
Czech Republic		18

Pot 4^[b]
Team	Host	Rank
Wales		19
Finland		20
Play-off winner A	Group C & F^[c]	N/A
Play-off winner B	Group E^[d]
Play-off winner C	Group D^[e]
Play-off winner D^[f]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b Ukraine could not be drawn into the same group as Russia (Group B host). Since they also could not be drawn into any of the other four groups with Pot 1 hosts, Ukraine were assigned to Group C. Consequently, Belgium were assigned to Group B.
^ Identity of the four play-off winners was unknown at the time of the draw.
^ Romania (Group C host) and Hungary (Group F host) competed in play-off Path A, and thus the winner of Path A was assigned to two groups (Group C and Group F), with the final assignment depending on the identity of the Path A winner.
^ Republic of Ireland (Group E host) competed in play-off Path B, and thus the winner of Path B was assigned to Group E.
^ Scotland (Group D host) competed in play-off Path C, and thus the winner of Path C was assigned to Group D.
^ Play-off Path D was paired with Path A (which contained two hosts), and thus the winner of Path D was assigned to two groups (Group C and Group F), with the final assignment depending on the identity of the Path A winner.

Draw results and group fixtures[edit]

The draw resulted in the following groups (teams in italics are play-off winners whose identity was not known at the time of the draw):

Group A
Pos	Team
A1	Turkey
A2	Italy^[a]
A3	Wales
A4	Switzerland

Group B
Pos	Team
B1	Denmark^[a]
B2	Finland
B3	Belgium
B4	Russia^[b]

Group C
Pos	Team
C1	Netherlands^[a]
C2	Ukraine
C3	Austria
C4	North Macedonia

Group D
Pos	Team
D1	England^[a]
D2	Croatia
D3	Scotland^[b]
D4	Czech Republic

Group E
Pos	Team
E1	Spain^[a]
E2	Sweden
E3	Poland
E4	Slovakia

Group F
Pos	Team
F1	Hungary^[b]
F2	Portugal
F3	France
F4	Germany^[a]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Tournament host that will play all three group stage matches at home.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Tournament host that will play two group stage matches at home.

The fixtures for the group stage were decided based on the draw results, as follows:

Note: Positions for scheduling did not use the seeding pots, and instead used the draw positions, e.g. Team 1 was not necessarily the team from Pot 1 in the draw.

Group stage schedule
Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	11–15 June 2021	1 v 2, 3 v 4
Matchday 2	16–19 June 2021	1 v 3, 2 v 4
Matchday 3	20–23 June 2021	4 v 1, 2 v 3

Squads[edit]

Each national team has to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player becomes injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he can be replaced by another player.^[1]

Match officials[edit]

On 12 February 2020, UEFA and CONMEBOL signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance collaboration, including the possibility of a team of South American match officials appointed for the group stage of the tournament.^[82]

Group stage[edit]

UEFA announced the original tournament schedule on 24 May 2018, which only included kick-off times for the opening match and quarter-finals onward.^[83]^[84] The kick-off times of the remaining group stage and round of 16 matches were announced on 30 November 2019 following the final draw.^[85] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced the revised match schedule for the tournament in 2021.^[86]^[87] All match dates, kick-off times and venues remained identical, but shifted one day earlier so matches would remain on the same day of the week (i.e. from 12 to 11 June for the opening match to remain on a Friday).^[88]

Group winners, runners-up, and the best four third-placed teams advance to the round of 16.

Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

Tiebreakers[edit]

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:^[1]

Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams who are still level to determine their final rankings.^[a] If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 10 apply;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
Higher number of wins in all group matches;^[b]
If on the last round of the group stage, two teams are facing each other and each has the same number of points, as well as the same number of goals scored and conceded, and the score finishes level in their match, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This criterion is not used if more than two teams have the same number of points.);
Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
Higher position in the European Qualifiers overall ranking.

Notes

^ If there is a three-way tie on points, the application of the first three criteria may only break the tie for one of the teams, leaving the other two teams still tied. In this case, the tiebreaking procedure is resumed, from the beginning, for the two teams that are still tied.
^ This criterion could only break a tie if a point deduction were to occur, as multiple teams in the same group cannot otherwise be tied on points but have a different number of wins.

Group A[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Qualification
1	Turkey	Advance to knockout phase
2	Italy (H)	Advance to knockout phase
3	Wales	Possible knockout phase based on ranking
4	Switzerland

First match(es) will be played on 11 June 2021. Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

11 June 2021

21:00

Turkey	Match 1	Italy
	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

12 June 2021

15:00 (17:00 UTC+4)

Wales	Match 2	Switzerland
	Report

Olympic Stadium, Baku

16 June 2021

18:00 (20:00 UTC+4)

Turkey	Match 13	Wales
	Report

Olympic Stadium, Baku

16 June 2021

21:00

Italy	Match 14	Switzerland
	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

20 June 2021

18:00 (20:00 UTC+4)

Switzerland	Match 25	Turkey
	Report

Olympic Stadium, Baku

20 June 2021

18:00

Italy	Match 26	Wales
	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Group B[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Qualification
1	Denmark (H)	Advance to knockout phase
2	Finland	Advance to knockout phase
3	Belgium	Possible knockout phase based on ranking
4	Russia (H)

First match(es) will be played on 12 June 2021. Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

12 June 2021

18:00

Denmark	Match 3	Finland
	Report

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

12 June 2021

21:00 (22:00 UTC+3)

Belgium	Match 4	Russia
	Report

Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

16 June 2021

15:00 (16:00 UTC+3)

Finland	Match 15	Russia
	Report

Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

17 June 2021

18:00

Denmark	Match 16	Belgium
	Report

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

21 June 2021

21:00

Russia	Match 27	Denmark
	Report

Parken Stadium, Copenhagen

21 June 2021

21:00 (22:00 UTC+3)

Finland	Match 28	Belgium
	Report

Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

Group C[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Qualification
1	Netherlands (H)	Advance to knockout phase
2	Ukraine	Advance to knockout phase
3	Austria	Possible knockout phase based on ranking
4	North Macedonia

First match(es) will be played on 13 June 2021. Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

13 June 2021

18:00 (19:00 UTC+3)

Austria	Match 6	North Macedonia
	Report

Arena Națională, Bucharest

13 June 2021

21:00

Netherlands	Match 5	Ukraine
	Report

Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam

17 June 2021

15:00 (16:00 UTC+3)

Ukraine	Match 18	North Macedonia
	Report

Arena Națională, Bucharest

17 June 2021

21:00

Netherlands	Match 17	Austria
	Report

Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam

21 June 2021

18:00

North Macedonia	Match 29	Netherlands
	Report

Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam

21 June 2021

18:00 (19:00 UTC+3)

Ukraine	Match 30	Austria
	Report

Arena Națională, Bucharest

Group D[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Qualification
1	England (H)	Advance to knockout phase
2	Croatia	Advance to knockout phase
3	Scotland (H)	Possible knockout phase based on ranking
4	Czech Republic

First match(es) will be played on 13 June 2021. Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

13 June 2021

15:00 (14:00 UTC+1)

England	Match 7	Croatia
	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

14 June 2021

15:00 (14:00 UTC+1)

Scotland	Match 8	Czech Republic
	Report

Hampden Park, Glasgow

18 June 2021

18:00 (17:00 UTC+1)

Croatia	Match 19	Czech Republic
	Report

Hampden Park, Glasgow

18 June 2021

21:00 (20:00 UTC+1)

England	Match 20	Scotland
	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

22 June 2021

21:00 (20:00 UTC+1)

Croatia	Match 31	Scotland
	Report

Hampden Park, Glasgow

22 June 2021

21:00 (20:00 UTC+1)

Czech Republic	Match 32	England
	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Group E[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Qualification
1	Spain (H)	Advance to knockout phase
2	Sweden	Advance to knockout phase
3	Poland	Possible knockout phase based on ranking
4	Slovakia

First match(es) will be played on 14 June 2021. Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

14 June 2021

18:00 (17:00 UTC+1)

Poland	Match 10	Slovakia
	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

14 June 2021

21:00

Spain	Match 9	Sweden
	Report

San Mamés, Bilbao

18 June 2021

15:00 (14:00 UTC+1)

Sweden	Match 21	Slovakia
	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

19 June 2021

21:00

Spain	Match 22	Poland
	Report

San Mamés, Bilbao

23 June 2021

18:00

Slovakia	Match 33	Spain
	Report

San Mamés, Bilbao

23 June 2021

18:00 (17:00 UTC+1)

Sweden	Match 34	Poland
	Report

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Group F[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Qualification
1	Hungary (H)	Advance to knockout phase
2	Portugal	Advance to knockout phase
3	France	Possible knockout phase based on ranking
4	Germany (H)

First match(es) will be played on 15 June 2021. Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

15 June 2021