The hosts take on the middleweights of European soccer.
Photo source: Pau Barrena / Gettyimages
On June 14, the main European tournament of the quadrennium starts in Germany: the European Football Championship. Twenty-four teams are taking part in it - for the first time so many. All national teams are divided into eight groups. The teams that took the first two places in their quartets, as well as the four best teams, which were on the third line, will get to the 1/8 finals.
Let's start the presentation of participants with Group A. Here in the fight for the trophy will enter the tournament hosts - Germany, as well as Hungary, Switzerland and Scotland.
Germany
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Best achievement
The current tournament hosts will play in the European Championship for the 14th time. The Eagles have lifted the trophy three times - in 1972, 1980 and 1996.
Qualifying
The Germans did not play in the qualifying tournament, but got a place in the list of the strongest automatically - as the hosts of the tournament.
Players
As for the leaders of the Bundestim, for example, 38-year-old Manuel Neuer, who is two years older than head coach Julian Nagelsmann and has not been called up to the national team for quite a long time, will play at the home tournament. The fans will see Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller - undoubted soccer stars of Germany. In general, the German national team is quite old - there are only three players aged 21.
Hungary national team
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Best achievement
This European Championship will be only the fifth in history for the Hungarians. Their best achievement was third place back in 1964. At the last European Championship, which was held in several countries, including Hungary, the Magyars were placed in the same group as Portugal, Germany and France. It was they who gave one of the main sensations of that European Championship: they drew with the reigning world champions - the French.
Selection
In qualifying for the European Championship-2024, the Hungarian national team won their group confidently, scoring the maximum 18 points in 8 matches.
Players
The Hungarians will be captained by 23-year-old Dominik Soboslai, the Liverpool midfielder and three-time Hungarian Golden Ball winner. Two players from the squad play outside Europe - forward Martin Adam plays for Ulsan Hyundai in South Korea and Daniel Gazdag plays for Philadelphia Union in the United States.
Switzerland national team
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Best achievement
The Swiss showed their best result at the last European Championship: then they reached the quarterfinals, beating the reigning world champions France in a penalty shootout in one eighth. The quarterfinal match also ended outside of regulation time and extra time, but this time the Swiss were unlucky.
Qualifying
The Swiss national team qualified for the Euros by finishing second in qualifying Group I. Interestingly, in qualifying the Swiss three games ended in a draw with different scores: 1:1 against Kosovo, 2:2 against group winner Romania, and 3:3 against Belarus.
Players
The national team record holder and its captain Granit Xhaka is going to his third European Championship. Another record holder of the team is Jann Sommer. The 35-year-old goalkeeper has played the most matches for the national team among goalkeepers.
By the way, the Swiss national team is coached by a specialist familiar to Russian fans - Murat Yakin. In the season 2014/2015 he headed Spartak Moscow.
Scotland national team
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Best achievement
The Scottish national team cannot boast of much success at the Euros. The team will be participating in the tournament for the fourth time, and the three previous attempts ended for the Scots in the group stage. That happened in 1992, 1996 and 2020.
Qualifying
In Group A, the Scots took second place with 17 points, giving the lead to the Spaniards. By the way, at home, the Scottish national team defeated the “Red Fury” - 2:0.
Players
29-year-old midfielder of the national team John McGinn is among the top ten scorers of the team. He has 18 goals to his credit. Among the players with an unusual career is defender Jack Hendry, who plays for Al-Ittifaq in Saudi Arabia.