Euro 2024 draw: Italy and Spain to meet in group stage, England handed kind draw
FirstpostItaly, who beat England on penalties at Wembley in the final of the last European Championship in 2021, and Spain will face Croatia and Albania in Group B. Reigning champions Italy were placed in the same group as Spain in Saturday’s draw for Euro 2024, while France will come up against the Netherlands and England avoided any of the toughest opponents. Italy, who beat England on penalties at Wembley in the final of the last European Championship in 2021, and Spain will also face Croatia and Albania in Group B. Spain, victors over Italy in the final of Euro 2012, will take on 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia in their opening match in Berlin on June 15. “One or two teams that you are obviously glad to avoid, especially in pot three, pot four, but all the teams we play are more than capable.” He added: “We’ve developed a lot as a team over the past few years, we’re used to these big games, we’re ready for the expectation and we hope we can give our supporters some more brilliant nights as I think we have in the last few tournaments.” If England top their group, and France also finish first in their section, the two sides would find themselves on the same side of the draw in the knockout phase and would be on course to meet in the semi-finals. Complete Euro 2024 draw: GROUP A: Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland GROUP B: Spain, Albania, Croatia, Italy GROUP C: England, Denmark, Slovenia, Serbia GROUP D: France, Austria, Netherlands, Playoff winner GROUP E: Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, Playoff winner GROUP F: Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic, Playoff winner