Only 100 days are remaining until the start of UEFA EURO 2024, the 17th edition of the tournament, scheduled to take place in Germany between 14 June (opening match Germany vs. Scotland) and 14 July. Among the 24 teams is also Italy, reigning European champions after lifting the trophy at Wembley in July 2021. The Azzurri, who have two friendlies with Venezuela and Ecuador coming up in the United States at the end of March, will play their opener on Saturday 15 June against Albania in Dortmund. They then face Spain in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday 20 and finish off in Leipzig against Croatia, the last group-stage match, on Monday 24 June.

To welcome the countdown, UEFA has published some numbers about the European Championships: from the ten host cities (Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart) to 51 matches scheduled in 22 days, up to 16,000 volunteers and 331 million in prize money to be distributed to the participating teams. Speaking of records, Germany, with 14, have taken part in the most number of European Championships (the Germans also hold the record for winning finals, together with Spain, three), while Cristiano Ronaldo has his sights set on a sixth participation (Portugal's Pepe and Croatia's Modric are aiming for their fifth). And there are other interesting facts, too: the bear, Albärt, will be the twelfth mascot in the history of the European Championships (Pinocchio was the first mascot in the European Championship hosted by Italy in 1980); 32 million euros will be the amount invested to make EURO 2024 the most sustainable European Championship of all time; 2.7 million tickets will be available to fans, with 71,000 getting the chance to attend the final on July 14th, set to be played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin - a city that evokes great memories for our national team.