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Associated Press
- December 1, 2023 18:48
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Italy, the reigning European champion, and Croatia, the World Cup semi-finalist, are among the representatives in the last two pots, out of four in total for the Euro 2024 draw that is drawn on Saturday.
It is a little surprising how UEFA has decided to determine the placement of the representatives in the pots for this continental tournament.
While FIFA relies on world rankings to make sure no strong team is in the fourth pot for the World Cup, UEFA relies on team results and points earned in European qualifiers.
So Italy, who finished second in the qualifying group and dropped a lot of points along the way, are in pot four along with the three playoff winners to be decided in March.
Croatia and the Netherlands are in pot three along with the likes of Scotland and Slovenia, who rarely qualify for major tournaments.
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Host Germany and the winners of several groups are in the first pot for the draw of 24 representatives. The draw will be made in Hamburg, at the ceremony starting at 18:00 on Saturday.
The draw will have three free places in the fourth pot. Places are reserved for the three playoff winners, who have a second chance for European qualification.
Top teams
In the first pot together with Germany are the five representatives with the best results from the ten qualifying groups: Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium and England.
Portugal had a perfect record with 10 wins. Five representatives lost only one match. Spain were beaten 2-0 in Scotland in March.
Those five representatives are in the top eight of FIFA in the world ranking. Germany, with numerous troubles this year, has dropped to 16th place.
Second pot teams
The second pot includes five group winners and the second-placed representative with the best record. It is about Austria that qualified from the group won by Belgium.
There are also some surprises, such as Albania winning the group that also included Poland and the Czech Republic.
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Romania won the group ahead of Switzerland and Turkey was more successful than Croatia for the first place.
Hungary and Denmark, the semi-finalists of "Euro 2020", complete the teams in this pot. None of the six options would cause sleepless nights for some representatives who are in the third pot.
The third vase
Croatia and the Netherlands are among the six teams that finished second in their group, but are in pot three after conceding more points than Austria.
The Dutch were defeated at home and away and were dominated by France.
Both Croatia and the Netherlands were beaten by Argentina at the World Cup last year, in the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively, and are the toughest opponents in a pot that also includes the Czech Republic, Scotland, Slovakia and Slovenia, who are in the European finals for the last time. was qualified in 2000.
Teams in the last pot
Qualifying for major tournaments is an adventure for Italy. Having missed out on the last two World Cups, a fourth pot finish is perhaps not so bad for the reigning champions after another unconvincing qualifying cycle.
Italy were beaten twice in qualifying by England and needed a 0-0 draw with Ukraine last week to finish second in the group.
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Switzerland and Serbia are in this pot, as well as the three playoff winners, where the options are from Robert Lewandowski's Poland to Luxembourg.
The playoff is based on the previous year's Nations League results. Luxembourg is the lowest-ranked representative along with Georgia, Kazakhstan and 2004 European champion Greece.
