European Championship 2024
The day of the balls: This is how the European Championship draw works for Nagelsmann
The preliminary round groups for the 2024 European Football Championship will be drawn in Hamburg on Saturday. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
Now Julian Nagelsmann needs luck. When it comes to the draw for the European Championship groups, everything is possible for the national coach. A hammer group or easy opponents. Before the ceremony we watch football.
The legend of the German that prevailed in earlier football times The luck of the draw for big tournaments has long been obsolete.
When the preliminary round groups for the home European Championship 2024 are drawn on Saturday (6 p.m./RTL, ZDF and Magenta TV) in Hamburg, national coach Julian Nagelsmann and the national team with the constellation Denmark, Holland, Italy could be hit hard. But a supposedly easy opponent combination with Romania, Slovenia and Serbia is also possible. Nagelsmann already said that the “charm” of the draw is that you don’t know how it will turn out.
Final as preliminary
Nagelsmann shortens the wait for the big lottery show in the Elbphilharmonie with a football game on TV. Together with DFB sports director Rudi Völler, the national coach will watch the World Cup final of the German U17 juniors against France in distant Indonesia on Saturday (1 p.m./RTL/Sky) in the hotel in Hamburg. A title win for the youngsters would be a fine omen.
Celebrity Carpet
No gala without a VIP carpet. At the Elbphilharmonie everything is prepared for the arrival of the who’s who of European football. Nagelsmann, Völler, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and tournament director Philipp Lahm will also go to the glamorous draw location this way, but at a quick pace. Subzero temperatures are also announced in Hamburg on Saturday.
Music
This place sounds. Before the lots are drawn, there will of course be music. Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann and star violinist David Garrett perform with the Federal Youth Orchestra, the Federal Jazz Orchestra and the Federal Youth Choir in the Elbphilharmonie.
The main act
The show lasts 50 minutes and is moderated by sports presenters Pedro Pinto and Esther Sedlaczek. The actual drawing of lots takes a full 20 minutes. Lottery fairies are former European champions – the names are not yet public.
Germany is in first place in Group A. The five other teams from pot 1 will be drawn into groups B to F one after the other. Positions 1 to 4 within the group are also determined for each team. This is important for the order of the match pairings. If pot 1 is empty, pots 2, 3 and 4 follow.
The lottery pots:
Pot 1: Germany (set as A1), Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, EnglandPot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, Albania, Romania, AustriaPot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech RepublicPot 4: Italy, Serbia , Switzerland, winner Playoff A*, winner Playoff B**, winner Playoff C***
* Poland, Estonia, Wales or Finland ** Israel, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Ukraine *** Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan or Luxembourg
The after show
UEFA doesn’t have a party in the classic sense. But a lot of work follows for Nagelsmann. Tournament planning will begin in the coming days. Four test opponents must be announced and the training camp at the end of May and beginning of June must be fixed. “We will use the following months to prepare meticulously for our group opponents,” promised Nagelsmann.