The qualifications for the European Football Championship concluded on Tuesday evening, producing a record victory in history as France defeated Gibraltar 14-0. Also, Portugal achieved maximum performance, while four national teams finished without earning a single point, including Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, and San Marino. In addition, a number of surprises and excitement emerged from the qualifications, such as the Albanians winning as the most pleasant surprise, and the involvement of several other national teams until the last round. The European Championship is scheduled to take place from June 14 to July 14 next year.
This edition of the Euro will be the third to feature 24 national teams, a significant increase from the 16 teams that participated from 1996 to 2012, eight from 1980 to 1992, and only four in the first five editions. A total of 51 matches will be played in Germany across ten stadiums in ten cities, with Germany serving as host for the third time. The final match will be held in Berlin. The first-place qualifiers for the tournament include Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, England, Hungary, Albania, Denmark, Turkey, and Romania.
Three spots for the playoffs remain open, where teams will compete based on their results in the League of Nations. The complete playoff pairs in League A and B will be determined after a draw, and the draw for European Championship groups will take place on December 2. The tournament will feature six groups of four national teams, with the first two from each group and four of the six third-placed teams advancing to the round of 16.
UEFA has not increased the prize fund compared to the previous Euro edition, but the budget is 30 million euros more than at Euro 2016 in France. The second round of Euro ticket sales will commence on December 4 with one million tickets available for fans of 21 national teams. The next round of ticket sales will be next year for fans of three national teams that will qualify for the Euros through the playoffs scheduled from March 21st to the 26th. Over 1.2 million tickets were sold in the first round of sales, with prices ranging from 30 to 1,000 euros for the most expensive options.