Diary for my daughter 15.06.2024 - UEFA Euro 2024

Hello, my beautiful daughter!
Tata here!
Hope you're well!
Tata is fine today! We officially entered the Euro football month, last night at the first game , Germany won with 5-1 against Scotland. Today there are another 3 games and tomorrow as well. I had an Amazon collection from Harlow and delivered it to Harlow and in the evening I will have another collection from Luton. Tomorrow is the international Father's day. So I want to wish it to all fathers in the world a blessed day next to your children. I'm so sorry that I can't be with you. I love love you infinite. Let's go to your today story...

UEFA Euro 2024

The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, is the ongoing 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the European men's national teams of its member associations. Germany hosts the tournament, which is taking place from 14 June 2024 to 14 July 2024, and the winner will later compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions against the 2024 Copa América winner. The tournament comprises 24 teams, with Georgia the only team making their European Championship finals debut.

It is the third time that European Championship matches are played on German territory and the second time in reunified Germany, as West Germany hosted the tournament's 1988 edition, and four matches of the multi-national Euro 2020 were played in Munich. It is the first time the competition is held in what was formerly East Germany with Leipzig as a host city, as well as the first major tournament since the 2006 FIFA World Cup that a reunified Germany serves as a solo host nation. The tournament will return to its usual four-year cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Italy are the defending champions, having won the 2020 tournament against England on penalties in the final.

Host selection

On 8 March 2017, UEFA announced that two countries, Germany and Turkey, had announced their intentions to host the tournament before the deadline of 3 March 2017.

The host was chosen by the UEFA Executive Committee in a confidential ballot, needing only a simple majority of votes to win. If the votes were equal, the final decision rested with UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin. Out of the 20 members on the UEFA Executive Committee, Reinhard Grindel (Germany) and Servet Yardımcı (Turkey) could not vote because they were ineligible. Lars-Christer Olsson (Sweden) was also absent due to illness. In total, 17 members were able to vote.

The host was selected on 27 September 2018 in Nyon, Switzerland. Germany initially planned to fully host Euro 2020 although never announced any firm interest by May 2012.

Venues

Germany had a wide choice of stadiums that satisfied UEFA's minimum capacity requirement of 30,000 seats for European Championship matches.

Of the ten venues selected for Euro 2024, nine were used for the 2006 FIFA World Cup: Berlin, Dortmund, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Gelsenkirchen. Düsseldorf, which was not used in 2006 but had previously been used for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1988, will serve as the tenth venue; conversely, Hanover, Nuremberg and Kaiserslautern, host cities in 2006 (in addition to 1974 and 1988 in Hanover's case), will not be used for this championship. Munich, the site of the first game of UEFA Euro 2024, was also a host city at the multi-national UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, hosting four matches (three involving Germany) in front of a greatly reduced number of spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Various other stadiums, such as those in Bremen and Mönchengladbach, were not selected. The venues covered all the main regions of Germany, but the area with the highest number of venues at UEFA Euro 2024 is the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with four of the ten host cities (Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne).

Team base camps
Each team chose 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. The "team base camp" needs to be in Germany.

Ticketing
Tickets for the venues were sold directly by UEFA via its website, or distributed by the football associations of the 24 finalists. Ticket sales started on 3 October 2023. More than 80% of 2.7 million tickets for the 51 tournament matches were available for the fans of the participating teams and the general public. Fans of each participating team allocated 10,000 tickets for group stage matches, 6,000 tickets for the round of 16 and quarterfinals, 7,000 for the semifinals, and 10,000 for the final match. Over 50 million applications from 206 countries were received. Besides fans of Germany, the most tickets were requested by fans supporting Turkey, Hungary, England, Albania and Croatia. Prices ranged from €30 (for a seat behind the goal at a group match) to €1000 (for a seat in the main stand at the final).

Qualification

As hosts, Germany qualified for the tournament automatically. The 23 remaining spots were determined by a qualifying tournament; 20 spots were decided by the direct qualification of the winners and runners-up of the 10 qualifying groups, with the remaining three spots decided by play-offs. Places in the play-offs were given to the teams that performed the best in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League who did not already qualify via the main qualifying tournament. The draw for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage was held on 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle in Frankfurt. The qualifying group stage took place from March to November 2023, while the three play-offs were held in March 2024.

Qualified teams
Of the 24 teams that qualified for the tournament, 19 participated in the previous edition. These include the defending champions Italy and runners-up England, as well as 2022 World Cup runners-up France and bronze medalist Croatia. Portugal were the only team to qualify with a flawless record, whilst France, England, Belgium, Hungary, and Romania also qualified without a loss.

Albania and Romania returned after missing out on Euro 2020, the former qualifying for only their second major tournament. Serbia and Slovenia both returned for the first time since Euro 2000, with Serbia qualifying for the first time since Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations, and Slovenia qualifying for their fourth major tournament as an independent nation. Georgia beat Greece on penalties in the play-offs to qualify for their first-ever tournament since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, also becoming the only debutants for this edition and ensuring every final tournament since the inaugural Euro 1960 saw one new team make their debut.

Notable absentees include Sweden, Russia, and Wales. Sweden failed to reach the finals for the first time since Euro 1996 and also failed to qualify for their second major tournament in a row, having missed out on the 2022 World Cup. Russia, who were regulars at finals since Euro 2000, were barred from the qualifiers altogether in the aftermath of the country's invasion of Ukraine, the first time a national team had been banned from the competition since FR Yugoslavia in 1992. Wales, who reached the knockout stages at the previous two editions, including the semi-finals at Euro 2016, lost to Poland on penalties in the play-offs. Having made their debut at the previous edition, North Macedonia and Finland failed to qualify for this edition.

Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
From 1960 to 1980, both Slovakia and the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.
From 1960 to 1984, Serbia competed as Yugoslavia, and in 2000 as FR Yugoslavia.
FR Yugoslavia were initially to appear in 1992 (after qualifying as Yugoslavia), but were replaced after being banned by the United Nations from all international sport.

Disqualification of Russia
At a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Hvar, Croatia, on 20 September 2022, it was confirmed that Russia would be excluded from qualifying for Euro 2024, reaffirming the suspension of all Russian teams following the country's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and making this the first European Championship finals Russia would miss since 2000.

Final draw

The final tournament draw took place on 2 December 2023, 18:00 CET, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. The teams were seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Hosts Germany were automatically seeded into pot 1, and they were placed in position A1. The three play-off winners were not known at the time of the draw, and the teams participating in those play-offs, scheduled to be held in March 2024, were placed into pot 4 for the draw. The draw was disrupted by sexual noises whilst it was taking place, as the result of a prankster.

Pot 1: Germany (Host), group winners ranked 1–5
Pot 2: Group winners ranked 6–10, group runner-up ranked 1 (6–11 overall)
Pot 3: Group runners-up ranked 2–7 (12–17 overall)
Pot 4: Group runners-up ranked 8–10 (18–20 overall), play-off winners A–C (identity unknown at the time of the draw)

Squads
The maximum squad size of the teams was increased from the original quota of 23 to 26 players. Teams had to provide the list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26 by the deadline of 7 June.

Match officials

In April 2024, 19 refereeing teams were selected to take charge of the 51 matches at the tournament, including an Argentine team selected as part of a co-operation agreement between the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations.

In addition, UEFA announced twenty video match officials and twelve support match officials (who will act as fourth official or reserve assistant referee).

Group Stage

UEFA announced the tournament schedule on 10 May 2022, which only included kick-off times for the opening match, semi-finals, and final. The kick-off times for all other matches were announced on 2 December 2023 following the draw.

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

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).

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

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. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 10 will apply;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
If on the last round of the group stage, two teams who are facing each other are tied in points, goal difference and goals scored then they drew their match, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This criterion is not used if more than two teams had 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, unless the comparison involves hosts Germany, in which case a drawing of lots will take place.
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.

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out.

As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984, there is no third place play-off.

All times listed are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Statistics

There have been 6 goals scored in 1 match, for an average of 6 goals per match (as of 14 June 2024).

1 goal

Germany Emre Can
Germany Niclas Füllkrug
Germany Kai Havertz
Germany Jamal Musiala
Germany Florian Wirtz
1 own goal

Germany Antonio Rüdiger (against Scotland)
Source: UEFA

Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches; yellow cards expired after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions were not carried forward to any other future international matches)

Marketing

Branding
The official logo was unveiled on 5 October 2021, during a ceremony at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The logo depicts the Henri Delaunay Trophy with 24 coloured slices around the trophy representing the 24 participating nations, and the ellipse reflects the shape of the Olympiastadion. In addition, each of the ten host cities has their own unique logo, featuring the following local sights:

Berlin: Brandenburg Gate
Cologne: Cologne Cathedral
Dortmund: Dortmund U-Tower
Düsseldorf: Schlossturm, Rheinturm and Rheinkniebrücke
Frankfurt: Römer
Gelsenkirchen: Musiktheater im Revier
Hamburg: Elbphilharmonie
Leipzig: Monument to the Battle of the Nations
Munich: Frauenkirche
Stuttgart: Fernsehturm Stuttgart
The official slogan of the tournament is "United by Football. Vereint im Herzen Europas." The slogan was chosen to promote diversity and inclusion.

Merchandise
In November 2023, it was announced that EA Sports had picked up the rights for the UEFA Euro 2024 video game, and that the Euro 2024 downloadable update would be coming to EA Sports FC 24, EA Sports FC Mobile, and EA Sports FC Online in the summer of 2024.

From Euro 2024, Fanatics will be controlling the e-commerce, event retail and licensing of UEFA National Team competitions until Euro 2028.

Topps, also owned by Fanatics, is the official sticker and trading card partner of the tournament, marking the end of Panini's association with UEFA which began in 1976.

Official song
In December 2023, Italian DJ group Meduza, American pop rock band OneRepublic and German singer Kim Petras were all announced as the official music artists of the tournament. However, in March 2024, it was announced that Petras had withdrawn from production due to scheduling issues, and was replaced by German singer Leony. The official song, "Fire", was released on 10 May 2024.

Broadcasting rights
The International Broadcast Centre (IBC) will be located at the halls of the Leipzig Trade Fair in Leipzig, Germany.

Unlike the previous two tournaments, UEFA has discontinued 4K ultra-high-definition broadcasts due to technical constraints, and amid lukewarm interest in the format among European broadcasters in comparison to high-dynamic-range (HDR) color.

Sponsorship
UEFA will use virtual advertising for the first time in the history of Euros, having three different types of sponsorship besides the Global sponsors, one pack for Germany, one for the United States and another for the Chinese market.

Official Global Sponsors
Adidas
Alibaba Group (Alipay, AliExpress, Antom and WorldFirst brands)
Atos
Betano
Booking.com
BYD Auto
Coca-Cola
Engelbert Strauss
Hisense
Lidl
Unilever
Qatar Airways
Visit Qatar
Vivo Mobile

Official Germany National Sponsors
Bitburger Brewery
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Telekom
Ergo Group
Wiesenhof

Symbols

Mascot
The official UEFA Euro 2024 mascot was unveiled on 20 June 2023 at the Germany vs. Colombia international friendly in Gelsenkirchen. The mascot is a teddy bear with shorts on. A public vote was used to select the name of the mascot, with options being "Albärt", "Bärnardo", "Bärnheart" and "Herzi von Bär". Results were made public on 5 July, with mascot's name announced to be "Albärt", getting 32% of the votes.

Match ball
The official match ball of the tournament, "Fussballliebe", was unveiled by UEFA and Adidas on 15 November 2023. Translated from the German as "Love of football", it features black wing shapes with red, blue, orange and green edges and curves to showcase the qualified nations' vibrancy to the tournament, and the love that fans around the world give to football. Created with sustainable organic materials[citation needed], this is the first ball for a UEFA Euro to feature "Connected Ball Technology", where it contains internal electronic sensors, allowing detection of its movement for UEFA match officials to use to assist in decision-making.

And that was your today story. Monday, we will learn about SNCF Class Z 50000.

Until Monday...

Be nice!
I'm so sorry that another day passed and I didn't hug you! Please forgive me!
I miss you the most!
I love you infinite.