With the play off finals in Path A, B and C decided last night, the line-up of the 24 national teams to take part in UEFA EURO 2024 is now complete. 78 days before the start of the tournament, the last three places for the Finals have been taken by Poland, Ukraine and Georgia, all victorious in the three play-off finals with Iceland, Wales and Greece, respectively.

THE PLAY-OFF GAMES. There was no shortage of excitement, with two out of three games going to penalties, with mnay players in action from our league: Szczesny, Gudmunsson, Zalewski, Kvaratskhelia. In the A play-off final, following a 0-0 draw after extra time, Poland got the better of Wales on spot-kicks: Juventus' Szczesny saved the fifth penalty taken by Daniel James.

A great goal from Albert Gudmunsson was not enough for Iceland, who took the lead in the first half before being clawed back in the second half thanks to goals from Tsygankov and Chelsea star Mudryk, who got the deciding six minutes from time in Ukraine's 2-1 win. There were also penalties in the match between Kvaratskhelia's Georgia and Greece. With the Napoli winger going off in extra-time due to injury, the Georgians achieved their first historic qualification to the Finals of a European Championship on penalties: misses by Bakasetas and Giakoumakis were fatal for Greece.

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, Netherlands, Poland
GROUP E: Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine
GROUP F: Portugal, Turkey, Czechia, Georgia

ITALY'S EURO SCHEDULE. Reigning European champions, Italy will make their debut in the tournament against Albania on Saturday 15 June in Dortmund, before facing Spain on Thursday 20 June in Gelsenkirchen and Croatia on Monday 24 June in Leipzig.

Fresh from victory over Venezuela and Ecuador in the two friendlies played in the United States, the national team will play two more friendlies before the European Championship defence begins: on Tuesday 4 June (21:00 CEST) at the stadio Renato Dall'Ara in Bologna, the Azzurri will face Turkey and then Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday 9 June (20:45 CEST) at Empoli's Carlo Castellani. In between, Luciano Spalletti will announce his official 23-player squad on Friday 7 June before leaving for Germany on Monday 10.

THE AZZURRI'S GAMES

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

HISTORY AGAINST GROUP OPPONENTS. Italy vs. Spain is a great classic of world football. It has been played 40 times, with eleven wins for the Azzurri, 16 draws and 13 defeats. The last meeting dates back to the Nations League semi-final last June, won 2-1 by Spain, while in the EURO 2020 semi-final it was Italy who prevailed winners on penalties. If the Azzurri have a perfect record against Albania (four wins out of four), Croatia represent a real bogey side for our national team: in nine games we have only won once, obtained in the first friendly in 1942. Since then, three defeats and five draws, the last one (1-1) in June 2015.

EURO 2024 LOCATIONS AND DATES. The European Championships will begin on Friday 14 June, with the opening match at the Football Arena in Munich, which will see hosts Germany take on Scotland. The official ball will be Fussballliebe (adidas), and the mascot will be Albärt. The group stage will take place from 14 to 26 June: the top two teams from each group and the four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16 (two a day between 29 June and 2 July), then the quarter-finals (5 and 6 July, two a day), the semi-finals (9 and 10 July, one a day) and the final (14 July).

There are 11 cities hosting the competition: Berlin (Olympiastadion/70,000 seats, venue for the final); Cologne (Cologne Stadium/47,000); Dortmund (BVB Stadion Dortmund/66,000); Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Arena/47,000); Frankfurt (Frankfurt Arena/46,000); Gelsenkirchen (Arena AufSchalke/50,000); Hamburg (Volksparkstadion Hamburg/50,000); Leipzig (Leipzig Stadium/42,000); Munich (Munich Football Arena/67,000, venue for the opening game); Stuttgart (Stuttgart Arena/54,000).
The matches of the six groups will take place in a variable number of venues (from four to six, but only two for the Germany group), geographically divided between the Central South and Central North areas.

In detail: Group A is the one with less travel, in terms of numbers and distance, with games taking place between Cologne and Stuttgart (two cities in the Centre and South of Germany, within a radius of approximately 360km), plus the opening match in Munich, the southernmost venue of the tournament. However, the areas where the other groups will take place are larger: Groups B, D, F will be concentrated in the cities of the Centre-North (Hamburg, Berlin, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen) and there will be 6 different venues for Group B, five for Group D, and four for Group F. Groups C and E will be involved, however, in five locations in the Centre and South of the country (Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, plus Gelsenkirchen C and Dusseldorf E) .

UEFA EURO 2024 GROUP CITIES

GROUP A: Cologne and Stuttgart (opening match 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