Tag: UEFA Euro 2024

⚽ Portugal – Key Euros Stats ⚽

Euro appearances: 18
Euro titles: 1
Best finish: Winners (2016)
Euros record: W19 D10 L10
Goals scored: 56
Biggest win: 3-0 (most recent vs Hungary in Euro 2020)
Player to watch: Bruno Fernandes
World ranking: 6th
Team nickname: Os Navegadores (The Navigators)
Group fixtures:

• June 18: Portugal vs Czech Republic (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)
• June 22: Turkey vs Portugal (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)
• June 26: Georgia vs Portugal (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)

How to follow our Euro 2024 coverage: UEFA Euro 2024 on Al Jazeera

It only took six short years for the Euro 2016 champions Portugal to hit rock bottom at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The devastating defeat to Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinal left them with the unenviable record of just one win in the knockout stages of a major competition since that spectacular Euro 2016 triumph.

In the aftermath of their World Cup exit, coach Fernando Santos called time on his stint with the national team.

As the tears streamed down Cristiano Ronaldo’s face as he walked down the player’s tunnel in Qatar, you felt as though he would follow suit.

Santos’s final act as Portugal manager – even before his side fell to Morocco at the quarterfinal stage – had seen him drop Ronaldo from the starting lineup for each of Portugal’s knockout matches at the Qatar World Cup. That his replacement, Goncalo Ramo, went on to score a hat-trick against Switzerland in the round of 16 felt like the final nail in the coffin of the superstar’s long and illustrious international career.

But it hasn’t proved to be the final act with the now 39-year-old Ronaldo set to play in a record sixth European football championship at Euro 2024 in Germany.

One of the first things Roberto Martinez is reported to have done after taking over as Portugal manager was to meet every member of the 26-man side that had been picked for the World Cup in Qatar. All of them, Ronaldo included, expressed their desire to continue with the national team.

Of those 26 players, 21 have been named in Martinez’s squad for Germany. Among them is 41-year-old defender Pepe, who’s been picked more for his importance off the pitch than on it.

“Pepe’s role in the locker room is important, the way he represents the national team shirt,” Martinez said. “When he is fit, he is a very important player. We have a very interesting dressing room because we have players from different generations.

We have a good mix of experience and youngsters. It’s a list of 26 players that will give a good response.”

A new beginning

While the personnel change has been minimal, the energy emanating from the team is hugely different to what it was in Qatar.

A strong qualification campaign has played a role in this – albeit against weak opposition.

Portugal went unbeaten across their 10 Euro 2024 qualifiers, scoring the most goals, 36, of any team and conceding the fewest, two.

Martinez isn’t lacking for firepower in a front line that includes players of the pedigree of Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota, Goncalo Ramos, Joao Felix and Rafael Leao. But crucially, he has opted to remain with Portugal’s most famous player, Ronaldo, as the talisman of the attack.

Since Martinez took over in January 2023, Ronaldo has started 10 games out of a possible 12 matches, only missing the other two fixtures due to suspension and load management protocols.

The former Real Madrid superstar’s impressive 10 goals in Euro 2024 qualification put him second on the goalscoring charts behind only Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku.

Questions remain

When assessing Portugal’s chances at Euro 2024, the only caveat is that the highest-ranked team in Portugal’s qualification group was Slovakia at world number 48, making any prospective form evaluation against the top contenders a difficult exercise.

At the Euro 2024 group stage, they will face a much sterner test with matches against the Czech Republic, ranked 36, Poland, ranked 28, and Turkey, ranked 40.

After a year in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr, all eyes will be transfixed on Ronaldo and how well he will fare against top-ranked opposition upon his return to Europe’s premier nations competition.

Martinez’s debut tournament with Portugal at Euro 2024 is of equal intrigue.

During his time as Belgium boss, Martinez guided the team to a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup – the highest in their history.

In Euro 2020, Belgium coincidentally knocked out Portugal in the round of 16 but suffered a quarterfinal exit at the hands of eventual winners Italy. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was the lowest point of Martinez’s reign, with the Belgians crashing out at the group stage.

The jury is still out on Martinez’s Belgium tenure and whether or not he underachieved with them. But the one thing he did successfully do with the national side was instill a winning mentality; the Spaniard helped transform Belgium’s reputation from plucky underdogs to serious contenders.

Martinez now finds himself facing a similar task with his current team at Euro 2024.

Many commentators believe the time has come for Portugal to shed the “dark horse” tag they have saddled themselves with in major tournaments. This established – and talent-stacked – squad enters Euro 2024 with the players to win it all but still faces questions about whether they possess the necessary self-belief that was characteristic of the victorious Euro 2016 Portugal side.

⚽ Portugal’s final squad for Euro 2024 ⚽

Captain: Cristiano Ronaldo

Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (Porto), Jose Sa (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Rui Patricio (AS Roma)

Defenders: Antonio Silva (Benfica), Danilo Pereira (Paris St Germain), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting Lisbon), Joao Cancelo (Barcelona), Nelson Semedo (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Pepe (Porto), Ruben Dias (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Neves (Benfica), Joao Palhinha (Fulham), Otavio Monteiro (Al Nassr), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal), Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain)

Forwards: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Francisco Conceicao (Porto), Goncalo Ramos (Paris Saint-Germain), Joao Felix (Barcelona), Pedro Neto (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Rafael Leao (AC Milan).

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match buildup and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and real-time match results and schedules.

Ivan Schranz’s goal in the seventh minute was enough to allow Slovakia to pull off the shock of the tournament so far.

Slovakia caused the first major upset at the European Football Championship 2024 as Ivan Schranz fired the underdogs to a 1-0 win against Belgium.

Francesco Calzona’s side are 45 spots below third-placed Belgium in FIFA’s world rankings.

But they made a mockery of the supposed quality gap between the teams with a courageous performance in Frankfurt, Germany on Monday.

Calzona, who also served as Napoli’s interim boss in the second half of last season, had admitted he would be “delighted” with a draw.

The Italian got more than he could have dreamed of as Schranz left Belgium reeling in the seventh minute after ending his nine-game international goal drought.

Key striker Romelu Lukaku missed a host of chances for Belgium and had a late equaliser controversially disallowed by VAR in the 86th minute after a handball by teammate Lois Openda in the build-up.

Slovakia’s unexpected victory blew Group E wide open, just hours after Romania beat Ukraine 3-0 in Monday’s other match in that pool.

It was a bitter loss for Belgium, who are in danger of once again failing to fulfil their potential at a major tournament.

Belgium’s golden generation has lost much of its lustre since they crashed out of the 2022 World Cup in the group stage.

The Red Devils fell at the quarterfinals in the last two editions of the European Championship, making a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup the high-water mark of a talented but underachieving team once hailed as a potential dynasty.

 

Euro 2020’s top goal scorers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Patrik Schick, will face off in their Euro 2024 group opener in Germany.

The joint top scorers at the last European Championship will face each other as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal play Patrik Schick’s Czech Republic in their Euro 2024 Group F opener at Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena.

Ronaldo and Schick both scored five at the COVID-delayed Euro 2020 and are likely to shoulder the goal-scoring burden for their sides this time around.

The tournament could be Ronaldo’s international swansong, although the 39-year-old appears as hungry for goals and adulation as ever as he prepares to kick off his sixth Euros on Tuesday.

While he may have moved away from Europe’s elite to play in Saudi Arabia, the goal-getting instincts of the leading scorer in men’s international football seem as razor-sharp as ever.

Having finished second-top scorer in qualifying with 10 goals and smashed 35 in 31 league games for Al Nassr last season, the seemingly ageless Ronaldo warmed up for the tournament with a brace in their final friendly against Ireland.

While Ronaldo lifted the trophy in 2016, he may still be harbouring a sense of unfinished business on the international stage.

Having sat out most of that final eight years ago through injury, he has failed to propel Portugal to further glory at two subsequent World Cups and at Euro 2020, when they were knocked out in the last 16.

This has been one of Portugal’s most gilded generations but with Ronaldo and 41-year-old defender Pepe in the twilight of their careers, Euro 2024 has the feel of a last hurrah.

With a squad bulging with talent, Portugal will be, on paper, one of the best teams in Germany. They won all of their 10 games in the qualifiers, scoring 36 and conceding twice.

Yet their manager Roberto Martinez knows all about the pitfalls of leading a supremely talented bunch of players at international tournaments, having failed to turn Belgium’s so-called “Golden Generation” into tournament winners.

Martinez, however, also knows he has arguably the game’s best in Ronaldo.

“We have 23 players. We create competitiveness and the game makes decisions,” he said earlier this month. “But Cristiano is prepared to help the team and give everything he can give. And there is no other player in the world of football who can bring what Cristiano can to the dressing room.”

Schick, who won goal of the tournament at Euro 2020 for his stunner against Scotland from the halfway line, will spearhead a Czech side with very different expectations.

The Czechs finished second in qualifying behind Albania, winning four of their eight matches in a group that also included Poland, Moldova and the Faroe Islands.

With Schick absent from the final rounds of qualifying, they found goals hard to come by but, fresh from winning the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, he seems to have shaken off the injuries that hampered him and that could spell trouble for Portugal.

Portugal vs Czechia kicks off at 2100 local time (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday, June 18.

The incident comes hours before the German city staging a Euro 2024 match between Netherlands and Poland.

The German police have fired shots at a person who allegedly threatened officers with a pickaxe and an incendiary device on the sidelines of a Euro 2024 football fan parade in central Hamburg, according to a police post on social media platform X.

A major police operation was under way and the suspect was receiving medical care for injuries, the post on Sunday added.

The incident occurred in the St Pauli district of the city as Poland and the Netherlands prepared to play against each other in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion at 3pm (13:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Fan marches were scheduled before the games, and a parade for Dutch supporters was held at 12:30pm (10:30 GMT), around the time of the incident.

Germany is hosting the monthlong tournament that began on June 14.

⚽ Italy – Key Euros Stats ⚽

Euro appearances: 10
Euro Titles: 2
Best finish: Winners (1968, 2020)
Euros Record: W21 D18 L6
Goals scored: 52
Biggest win: 3-0 (vs Turkey and vs Switzerland in Euro 2020)
Player to watch: Federico Dimarco
World ranking: 9th
Group Fixtures:

• 15 June: Italy vs Albania (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)
• 20 June: Spain vs Italy (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)
• 24 June: Croatia vs Italy (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)

How to follow our Euro 2024 coverage: UEFA Euro 2024 on Al Jazeera

Italy arrives at the Euros as defending champions, but the title comes without the aura; it has been gradually eroding since that incredible summer night at Wembley, London, in 2021.

Less than a year after their crowning glory at the Euros, the Azzurri encountered the ignominy of missing out on the 2022 Qatar World Cup after a stunning stoppage time goal saw them lose their playoff semifinal to football minnows North Macedonia.

Their qualification campaign for Euro 2024 was similarly fraught.

After their first two qualifiers – a loss to England and a win over Malta – Italy were rocked by the resignation of manager Roberto Mancini after more than five years in the job.

He was replaced by Luciano Spalletti, whose first game in charge was a 1-1 draw, which also happened to be against their 2022 nemesis, North Macedonia. With only one victory in their first three games, Euro 2024 qualification suddenly looked precarious.

A run of three wins in four matches saw Italy go into the final group game against Ukraine, knowing a loss would see them enter the playoffs. A tense goalless draw secured direct passage to the Euros owing to their superior head-to-head record.

Bet gone wrong

To go along with their qualification woes, the Italian side’s preparations were rocked by a betting scandal that saw the police visit the national team’s Coverciano training centre ahead of their qualifiers in October to question Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo. The duo subsequently left the camp and Tonali was later handed a 10-month ban by the Italian Football Federation.

Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli was also handed a seven-month ban after being found guilty in the investigation, but he was named in Italy’s final 26-man squad for Euro 2024.

His inclusion is indicative of the dearth of attacking options in front of Spalletti.

Zaniolo and forward Domenico Berardi were ruled out of the tournament through injury, while Marco Verratti and Lorenzo Insigne no longer play their club football in Europe and have faded from national favour.

Injuries have hindered Federico Chiesa’s progress, with the 26-year-old Juventus forward yet to recapture the form that saw him light up Euro 2020.

Gianluca Scamacca, who scored 19 goals for Europa League winners Atalanta this season, is expected to lead the front line but he has scored just once for Italy in his 15 appearances.

Giacomo Raspadori is the other striking option at Spalletti’s disposal, but he has managed only 12 goals across the last two seasons.

Defence is the best form of attack

All this points to a side that will be built around its defence. Unsurprisingly, Azzurri are not lacking for talent in this department – their 30-man preliminary squad features 11 eleven defenders.

Of these 11, four were from Inter Milan – prior to Francesco Acerbi’s late injury withdrawal – and given the Nerazzurri’s parsimonious defence this year, the remaining three Inter defenders are all likely to start in Germany.

The 22 goals Inter conceded in the Serie A this season are the lowest among all clubs in Europe’s top five leagues. The feat was achieved playing a back-three. So, replicating a system with a group of defenders already comfortable playing in it feels an almost no-brainer for Spalletti’s national team at Euro 2024.

The manager fielded a three-man defence for the first time in his tenure in the March 2024 friendlies against Venezuela and Ecuador, with Italy going on to win both. The sample size is small but the ceiling could be high.

A backline comprising of Alessandro Bastoni and Alessandro Boungiorni – the likely Acerbi replacement – with Federico Dimarco and Matteo Darmian at wing-back is, on paper, one of the best defences at Euro 2024.

But will that be enough to take them deep in the tournament?

Spalletti admitted in an interview with Sky Italia that there are other countries that are at a higher level than Italy but backed his team to compete with them.

“Our target is to return from Germany and hear Italians say, ‘We are proud of you,’” he said.

Drawn in a difficult group that includes Spain, Croatia and Albania, even a quarterfinal finish would go a long way towards helping Spalletti meet this objective.

If the Italians can pull off an unlikely tournament coup, they will join Germany and Spain as the record three-time European champions.

⚽ Italy’s final squad for Euro 2024 ⚽

Captain: Gianluigi Donnarumma

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris St Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma)

Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter Milan), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)

Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio)

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match buildup and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and real-time match results & schedules.

⚽ Spain – Key Euros Stats ⚽

Euro appearances: 11
Euro titles: 3
Best finish: Winners (1964, 2008, 2012)
Euros record: W21 D15 L10
Goals scored: 68
Biggest win: 5-0 (vs Slovakia at Euro 2020)
Player to watch: Lamine Yamal
World ranking: 8th
Group fixtures:

• 15 June: Spain vs Croatia (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)
• 20 June: Spain vs Italy (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)
• 24 June: Albania vs Spain (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)

How to follow our Euro 2024 coverage: UEFA Euro 2024 on Al Jazeera

The meekness of Spain’s dramatic exit from the 2022 Qatar World Cup has overshadowed what’s been a relatively successful period for the star-studded team.

Spain reached the semifinals of Euro 2020, where they were knocked out on penalties by eventual champions Italy.

In June 2023, they won the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Nations League – their first title since the team’s memorable Euro 2012 triumph.

The Nations League victory was significant for three main reasons.

First, beating Croatia in the final on penalties exorcised the demons of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where Spain shockingly failed to score a single penalty in their round of 16 exit to Morocco.

Second, there were huge volts of confidence from a late win over Italy in the Nations League semifinal and beating Italy and Croatia, both of whom are in the same Euro 2024 group as Spain.

Third, new Spain manager Luis de la Fuente getting a taste of silverware early into his reign ensured buy-in from his players as they head into Euro 2024.

Smells like teen spirit

De la Fuente is no stranger to success with the national team.

He won the Euros with the Spanish Under-19 and Under-23 teams and was in charge of the national side that won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

So, it comes as no surprise that the squad he’s picked for Euro 2024 is young and hungry for success.

Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal, 16, has made the cut while fellow La Masia graduate Fermin Lopez, 21, has earned his first call-up to the national side.

Twenty-one-year-olds Pedri and Nico Williams also feature in De la Fuente’s 26-man squad.

Yamal is almost certain to start for Spain at Euro 2024 and in doing so, he’ll become the youngest-ever player to make an appearance at the European championship.

The sublimely talented winger has already set a list of extraordinary records in his young career: youngest scorer for his club team Barcelona, youngest scorer in LaLiga history and youngest scorer for the Spanish national team.

While Yamal is the main attraction in this Spain side, its most important player is Manchester City star, Rodri.

The 27-year-old defensive midfielder has emerged as the de facto leader of the national side.

His partnership in the midfield with Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi – a duo De la Fuente dubbed the “best midfielders in the world in their position” – will be key to Spain’s chances at the Euros.

Villarreal’s Alex Baena, who has the most assists in the LaLiga this season, and Aleix Garcia, a key member in Girona’s Champions League qualifying campaign, are other sound options for De la Fuente to call upon in midfield.

One step forward, one step back

Center forward is an area of concern for Spain.

Alvaro Morata will lead the line in Germany, but the Atletico Madrid forward’s form has tailed off after a strong start to the season. He has scored just twice since the start of March.

Joselu has managed a respectable 17 goals for Real Madrid this season, including a stunning brace against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal, but he’s far from being a bankable option in international match play.

Given the makeup of the Spain squad, which along with being youth heavy also includes seven players above the age of 30, it’s tough to predict which way their campaign will swing.

Entering Euro 2024 in Germany as a near-unknown entity under a new manager making his major tournament debut could end up working in Spain’s favour.

⚽ Spain’s final squad for Euro 2024 ⚽

Captain: Alvaro Morata

Goalkeepers: Alex Remiro (Real Sociedad), David Raya (Arsenal), Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao)

Defenders: Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Aymeric Laporte (Al-Nassr), Nacho Fernandez (Real Madrid), Robin Le Normand (Real Sociedad), Dani Vivian (Athletic Bilbao), Alex Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Rodrigo (Manchester City), Martin Zubimendi (Real Sociedad), Fabian Ruiz (Paris St Germain), Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad), Pedri (Barcelona), Alex Baena (Villarreal), Fermin Lopez (Barcelona)

Forwards: Alvaro Morata (Atletico Madrid), Joselu (Real Madrid), Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Ayoze Perez (Real Betis), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match build-up and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and real-time match results and schedules.

Germany – Key Euros Stats:

Euro appearances: 13
Euro Titles: 3
Best finish: Winners (1972, 1980, 1996)
Euros Record: W27 D13 L13
Goals scored: 78
Biggest win: 3-0 (most recent vs Slovakia in Euro 2016)
Player to watch: Florian Wirtz
World ranking: 16
Euro 2024 Group Matches: Scotland (June 14), Hungary (June 19), Switzerland (June 23)

How to follow our Euro 2024 coverage: UEFA Euro 2024 on Al Jazeera

A general disillusionment with the national team, a squad trapped in transition and the appointment of a charismatic new coach in advance of a home tournament: take a whiff and you’ll find it smells like 2006 in Germany.

Manager Jurgen Klinsmann was at the helm for Die Mannschaft – which directly translates as “The Team” – at the World Cup 18 years ago. Julian Nagelsmann is in the hot seat for the Euro 2024.

In 2006, a youthful German side captured the nation’s imagination, staging an unlikely run to the semifinals. In 2024, a similar campaign is hoped for – but not necessarily expected.

It’s been a harrowing few years for the three-time winner of the European football championship, who, since Euro 2016, have not won a knockout game at a major tournament.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was their second successive group stage exit, and following their 4-1 loss to Japan last September, Hansi Flick became the first Germany boss to be fired from the role.

Friendly fire

Germany has won just five of their 13 games since Qatar. But it is the last two – which came in the March international window – that have seen optimism spread throughout the country before Euro 2024.

The first rule of international football is: Do not put any weight on friendlies. Given how bereft of joy German fans have been in recent years, it is understandable why they were swept up by the wins over France (2-0) and Netherlands (2-1).

But it was not completely without reason.

After some tinkering in his first four games, Nagelsmann settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation for the two friendlies and just like that, it all clicked.

The trio of Jamal Musiala, Ilkay Gundogan and Florian Wirtz with Kai Havertz in midfield infused the attack with dynamism. Jonathan Tah and Antonio Rudiger brought solidity to the backline.

Wing-back was where Nagelsmann had experimented the most – Havertz, Niklas Sule, Robin Gosens, Benjamin Henrichs and Tah were all fielded in the position before March.

But in Joshua Kimmich and Stuttgart’s Maximilian Mittelstaedt, Nagelsmann appears to have found his preferred duo to flank the centrebacks. Mittelstaedt made his debut in the win against France and three days later, scored his first international goal against Netherlands.

Kroos to the rescue

Central to the whole system, of course, is superstar Toni Kroos.

The Real Madrid midfielder has been coaxed out of retirement and seven seconds into his return, set up Wirtz’s opener against France with one of his archetypal clipped passes.

In addition to the balance Kroos brings to the side, his presence frees up Gundogan to operate off the top of the attack. It is a role similar to the one he thrived in at Manchester City, where he was shielded by Rodri.

Nagelsmann had signed a short-term contract with Germany until the end of the Euros, but in April agreed to stay on until after the 2026 World Cup. He cited the friendlies in March – and the reaction they evoked across the country – as reasons for his extension.

“This is a decision of the heart. It is a great honour to be able to train the national team and work with the best players in the country,” Nagelsmann said.

“With successful, passionate performances we have the chance to inspire an entire country.

The two wins against France and the Netherlands in March really touched me. We want to play a successful home European Championship together and I’m really looking forward to it together with my coaching team Challenge of a World Cup.”

The 36-year-old manager has been bold in his selections for the Euros.

Mats Hummels, who starred in Borussia Dortmund’s run to the Champions League final, has been overlooked as has Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka.

Beyond talent, the Germany squad comprises players in a rich vein of form.

Havertz and Wirtz are coming off standout campaigns for Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen respectively.

Kroos, meanwhile, has rolled back the years for Madrid with his performances this year, and Rudiger has established himself this season as one of the best defenders in the world.

The fact that Germany is the Euro 2024 host is key, not least because qualification might have proved an issue had that not been the case.

Home support – and the manner in which they harness it – will be crucial to Germany’s chances.

Drawn in a tricky group with Switzerland, Scotland and Hungary, a strong start to Euro 2024 will be essential to build momentum.

Much like the 2006 World Cup staged in Germany, the Euros could be the dawn of a new era for the national team on home soil – or, if they crash and burn in front of their legions of fans, there is likely to be a major squad rebuild in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup campaign.

Germany Euro 2024 squad:

Captain: Ilkay Gundogan

Goalkeepers: Oliver Baumann (TSG Hoffenheim), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

Defenders: Waldemar Anton (VfB Stuttgart), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maximilian Mittelstadt (VfB Stuttgart), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders: Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Chris Fuhrich (VfB Stuttgart), Pascal Gross (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)

Forwards: Maximilian Beier (TSG Hoffenheim), Niclas Fullkrug (Borussia Dortmund), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Deniz Undav (VfB Stuttgart)

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match buildup and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and real-time match results & schedules.