Spain, Albania and Croatia will be Italy's opponents in the group stages of UEFA EURO 2024. This was the outcome of the draw held in Hamburg at the Elbphilharmonie, with FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, General Secretary, Marco Brunelli, Head Coach Luciano Spalletti and Head of Delegation Gianluigi Buffon all present. And it was Buffon who kicked off the draw, bringing on stage the trophy lifted by the Azzurri at Wembley in July 2021.

THE DRAW. Being put in pot 4, despite being current holders, Italy were drawn into Group B: the Azzurri were placed with Spain from pot 1, Albania from pot 2 and Croatia from pot 3. It is without doubt a difficult group, very similar to the one at Euro 2012: on that occasion the National team found Spain, Croatia and the Republic of Ireland, finishing in second place and reaching the Final, where they were beaten by Spain. Italy will open up with Albania on 15 June in Dortmund; they will then play Spain in Gelsenkirchen on 20 June and finish off in Leipzig on 24 June against Croatia. The top two will go through to the Round of 16 stages, along with the four best third-placed teams.

“It could have been better; it's a tough group," said Head Coach Luciano Spalletti. "Being in pot 4 means you have a lot of teams ahead of you, but nothing should take away the fact that we are Italy. We'll go and take on Spain, otherwise there's no joy in playing football; Croatia are an experienced and strong team, and Albania have shown they can play. Much will depend on what our physical condition is, from how we prepare and what we can develop. It's currently too hard to make predictions, we'll need to see how every team is once at the Euros”.

“We are relatively satisfied," said FIGC President, Gravina. "Like in every draw, you hope to have the least tough group possible; it could have been worse. We are confident we can do well. I wouldn't focus too much on our opponents' strengths, which they have, because we have shown that when we put all our energies together there's no team we can't beat.” In Germany, the Azzurri will also be able to count on the support of the Italian community there: “The Italian fans are certainly our 12th man”, declared Gravina, reaffirming his congratulations to the Women's team for their success yesterday over World Champions, Spain.

UEFA EURO 2024 GROUPS

GROUP A: Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland
GROUP B: Spain, Albania, Croatia, ITALY
GROUP C: England, Denmark, Slovenia, Serbia
GROUP D: France, Austria, the Netherlands, winner of play-off A
GROUP E: Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, winner of play-off B
GROUP F: Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic, winner of play-off C

THE AZZURRI'S FIXTURES

15 June: ITALY vs. Albania (Dortmund)
20 June: ITALY vs. Spain (Gelsenkirchen)
24 June: ITALY vs. Croatia (Leipzig)

PREVIOUS MATCHES AGAINST SIDES IN THE GROUP. Italy vs. Spain is a classic of the football world. There have been 40 previous games in total, with 11 Azzurri wins, 16 draws, and 13 losses. The last time the sides met was in the Nations League semi-final in June which was won 2-1 by Spain, whilst in the Euro 2020 semi-final it was Italy who came out on top in the penalty shootout. If the Azzurri have always beaten Albania (4 wins in 4 games), Croatia is an entirely different beast: they have won only 1 of the 9 previous games against the side, a friendly in 1942. Since then, the tally sits at 3 defeats and 5 draws for the Azzurri, the most recent being a 1-1 in June 2015.

UPCOMING FIXTURES FOR THE AZZURRI. The Men’s National Team will play two friendlies in the international window in March (opponents TBC). The group will then reconvene between the end of May/beginning of June once club football has concluded both at a domestic (15 May Coppa Italia final, 26 May last matchday of Serie A) and European level (finals in the three major UEFA club competitions to be held between 19 May and 1 June). Ahead of knowing whether any Italian clubs will make it to a potential final, there are currently 19 days between the end of Serie A and the start of the Euros, during which the players will have the necessary break before a training camp in Italy with two friendlies. Then, it’ll be time to depart for Germany. This is the same timeframe as EURO 2020 (Serie A finished on 23 May and Italy played the opening game on 11 June, 19 days apart) and a far cry from the lengthy waits up until the 90s. The record wait between the end of the domestic season and the start of a summer international tournament was in 1994: 48 days wait until the World Cup in the USA. The final 23-man squad list will be announced seven days before the tournament starts at the latest.

VENUES AND DATES. EURO 2024 will start on 14 June with the opening game in Munich, which will involve hosts Germany. The official ball for the tournament is adidas’ Fußballliebe and the tournament’s mascot is Albärt. There are eleven host cities: Berlin (Olympiastadion / 70,000 capacity, final venue), Cologne (Cologne Stadium / 47,000), Dortmund (BVB Stadion Dortmund / 66,000), Dusseldorf (Düsseldorf Arena / 47,000), Frankfurt (Frankfurt Arena / 46,000), Gelsenkirchen (Arena AufSchalke / 50,000), Hamburg (Volksparkstadion / 50,000), Leipzig (Leipzig Stadium / 42,000), Munich (Munich Football Arena / 67,000, opening game venue), Stuttgart (Stuttgart Arena / 54,000).

The games in the six groups will take place at a varying number of venues (from four to six, but only two for Germany’s group), geographically divided into two areas: centre-north and centre-south. In detail: Group A is the one with the least amount of travel, in terms of number and distance, because it will take place between Cologne and Stuttgart (two cities in the centre-south separated by approximately 360 km), plus the opening match with Germany playing in Munich, the southernmost venue of the tournament. On the other hand, the areas in which the other groups will take place are wider: Groups B, D, and F will be concentrated in the cities of the centre-north (Hamburg, Berlin, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen) and there will be six different venues for the Group B matches, 5 for Group D, 4 for Group F. Group C and E games, on the other hand, will take place across five venues in the centre-south (Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, plus Gelsenkirchen - Group C - and Dusseldorf - Group E).

UEFA EURO 2024 GROUP CITIES

GROUP A: Cologne and Stuttgart (opening game in Munich)
GROUP B: Hamburg, Berlin, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Leipzig,
GROUP C: Cologne, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Munich, Stuttgart
GROUP D: Hamburg, Berlin, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Leipzig
GROUP E: Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart
GROUP F: Hamburg, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Leipzig