Euro 2024 play-offs: Wales aiming to book their spot in Germany

The qualifying play-offs for the 2024 European Championships take place later this month and offer 12 teams the chance to book one of the three remaining spots in the tournament.

Fans of each nation will be desperate to see their team make it to Germany to participate in what promises to be a thrilling summer festival of football.

Firms such as Go Sport Travel will likely be inundated with requests for Euro 2024 packages from supporters of the three teams who progress through the play-offs.

Wales will undoubtedly take a sizeable following to the tournament if they can safely navigate their way through an extremely tough play-off qualification route.

They have been handed a home draw for their semi-final against Finland, and the winners of that tie will host either Poland or Estonia in the final.

Wales performed reasonably well during qualifying, recording three wins and three draws to finish third in Group D behind Turkey and Croatia.

Finland also recorded some impressive results in Group H, winning six of their ten outings on their way to claiming third place behind Denmark and Slovenia.

Wales are unbeaten in their last three matches against Finland and will fancy their chances of progressing to the final given they have home advantage.

Poland are expected to beat Estonia in the other semi-final and would be tough opponents for Rob Page’s side if they see off Finland’s challenge.

They have lost just once to Wales in ten previous meetings and are the bookmakers’ favourites to secure their place in the tournament this summer.

Ukraine are a good bet to progress from their section of the play-offs having narrowly missed out on automatic qualification behind England and Italy in Group C.

They visit Bosnia & Herzegovina in their play-off semi-final, with the winners of that tie facing either Israel or Iceland in the final.

Greece have been tipped to secure the third qualification spot having been handed what looks to be a winnable semi-final tie at home to Kazakhstan.

However, they face a trip to either Georgia or Luxembourg if they win that game and will need to be at their best to book a spot in Germany.

Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs – semi-finals

  • Path A: Poland vs Estonia, Wales vs Finland.
  • Path B: Israel vs Iceland, Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Ukraine.
  • Path C: Georgia vs Luxembourg, Greece vs Kazakhstan.

Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs – finals

  • Path A: Wales/Finland vs Poland/Estonia.
  • Path B: Bosnia and Herzegovina/Ukraine vs Israel/Iceland.
  • Path C: Georgia/Luxembourg vs Greece/Kazakhstan.

The semi-final games will take place on Thursday, March 21, while the three play-off finals are scheduled to take place the following Tuesday.

Who will play-off winners face at Euro 2024?

The final tournament draw took place in December, so each of the teams in the play-offs know who they would face in Germany if they qualify:

  • Group D: Path A winners, Netherlands, Austria, France.
  • Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Path B winners.
  • Group F: Turkey, Path C winners, Portugal, Czechia.

The remaining groups are as follows:

  • Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland.
  • Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania.
  • Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England.

The top two teams in each group along with the best four third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16.

The tournament is played as a straight knockout from this point, with all matches played to a finish.

Euro 2024 kicks off in Munich on Friday, June 14, and concludes with the final in Berlin on Sunday, July 14.

Euro 2024 play-offs: Wales aiming to book their spot in Germany

Comments 0 Comments
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.