Ultimate Guide To Euro 2020

With Euro 2020 set to kick off this weekend, we bring you the ultimate guide to Euro 2020 from host venues to teams and even referees. 

24 teams will do battle across the next month in a bid to be declared as champions of Europe across 11 host cities in the first-ever pan-European tournament, with previous editions having been hosted by selected countries either through joint hosting rights or as a individual single country host.

Littered with past former winners in teams like France, Germany and Spain amongst others as well as smaller nations plus two debutant countries, Euro 2020 certainly promises to be a packed month of sporting entertainment across 30 days.

Now, here is our ultimate guide to everything that you need to know ahead of the tournament opener on Friday 11 June 2021.

 

When Will Euro 2020 Take Place?

Euro 2020 will kick off on Friday 11 June 2021 as Turkey meet Italy at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, and conclude at Wembley Stadium, London, England, with the Final on Sunday 11 July 2021 which will serve as the conclusion of 51 matches scheduled to take place across 11 host cities in 30 days.

Stage	Date
Group	11-23 June 2021
Last 16	26-29 June 2021
Quarter-Finals	2-3 July 2021
Semi-Finals	6-7 July 2021
Final	11 July 2021

 

How Does Euro 2020 Work?

Teams will participate in five stages with the finalists both playing seven matches in total en route to the final, so here is how the tournament will work.

Group Stage* – Six groups of four teams per group (Group A-F) with the top two placed teams in each group all advancing to the knockout stage, whereas four of the six teams who finish third in their groups will qualify too depending on their results.

Last 16 – 16 teams will contest this stage in a series of single knockout ties with the winners advancing to the Quarter Finals. In the event of matches finishing level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played followed by penalties if still no winner is declared.

Quarter Finals – Eight teams will compete at this stage in four single leg knockout ties with the four winners all advancing to the Semi Finals. In the event of matches finishing level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played followed by penalties if still no winner is declared.

Semi-Finals – Four teams will participate in this stage across two single leg ties with both winners advancing to the Final. In the event of matches finishing level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played followed by penalties if still no winner is declared.

Final – Two countries will reach this stage with the winner of the single leg contest being declared the overall winners of the tournament. In the event of the match finishing level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played followed by penalties if still no winner is declared.

*Although the paths for the knockout stages won’t be known until the Group Stage is concluded, here is a reminder of which countries feature in each Group.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F
Italy	Denmark	Netherlands	England	Spain	Portugal
Switzerland	Finland	Ukraine	Croatia	Sweden	France
Turkey	Belgium	Austria	Czech Republic	Poland	Germany
Wales	Russia	North Macedonia	Scotland	Slovakia	Hungary

Teams

24 teams qualified for the Finals with 20 teams sealing automatic qualification through the Qualifying Group Stage, whereas the last four teams came through Qualifying Play-Offs across Paths A-C.

Now here are the 24 teams who have qualified for the tournament in alphabetical order.

Austria	North Macedonia
Belgium	Poland
Croatia	Portugal
Czech Republic	Russia
Denmark	Scotland
England	Slovakia
Finland	Spain
France	Sweden
Germany	Switzerland
Hungary	Turkey
Italy	Ukraine
Netherlands	Wales

 

Host Cites

11 cities across 11 different countries will host matches throughout the tournament, with Wembley Stadium, London, England, set to host six matches throughout the competition, merely as a result of a reallocation of games following Dublin’s omission due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Stadium	City	Country	Matches
Johan Cruyff Arena	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Group Stage and Round of 16
Olympic Stadium	Baku	Azerbaijan	Group Stage and Quarter Finals
Arena Nationala	Bucharest	Romania	Group Stage and Round of 16
Puskas Arena	Budapest	Hungary	Group Stage and Round of 16
Parken Stadium	Copenhagen	Denmark	Group Stage and Round of 16
Hampden Park	Glasgow	Scotland	Group Stage and Round of 16
Wembley Stadium	London	England	Group Stage, Round of 16, Semi Finals & Final*
Allainz Arena	Munich	Germany	Group Stage and Quarter Finals
Stadio Olimpico	Rome	Italy	Group Stage and Quarter Finals
Krestovsky Stadium	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Group Stage and Quarter Finals**
La Cartuja	Seville***	Spain	Group Stage and Round of 16

* London will now host two matches in Round of 16 instead of the planned one match after Dublin was dropped as a host city due to concerns over spectator attendance due to Coronavirus pandemic.

** Saint Petersburg will now host matches in Group E as well as Group B after Dublin was dropped as a host city due to concerns over spectator attendance due to Coronavirus pandemic.

*** Bilbao was originally set to be Spain’s host city but concerns over spectator attendance due to Coronavirus pandemic forced a venue change to Seville.

 

Refereeing Teams

There will be 19 refereeing teams in use throughout the tournament selected from 14 countries, including Argentina as part of an exchange programme between UEFA and CONMEBOL with a group of Spanish teams selected for 2021 Copa America tournament in turn.

Country	Referee	Assistant Referees
Argentina	Fernando Rapallini	Juan Pablo Belatti, Diego Bonfa
England	Michael Oliver	Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
England	Anthony Taylor	Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
France	Clement Turpin	Nicolas Danos, Cyril Gringore
Germany	Felix Brych	Mark Borsch, Stefan Lupp
Germany	Daniel Siebert	Jan Seidel, Rafael Foltyn
Israel	Orel Grinfeld	Roy Hassan, Idan Yarkoni
Italy	Daniele Orsato	Alessandro Giallatini, Fabiano Preti
Netherlands	Bjorn Kuipers	Sander van Roekel, Erwin Zeinstra
Netherlands	Danny Makkelie	Hessel Steegstra, Jan de Vries
Portugal	Artur Soares Dias	Rui Tavares, Paulo Soares
Romania	Ovidiu Hategan	Sebastian Gheorghe, Radu Ghinguleac
Romania	Istvan Kovacs	Vasile Marinescu, Ovidiu Artene
Russia	Sergei Karasev	Igor Demeshko, Maksim Gavrillin
Slovenia	Slavko Vincic	Tomaz Klancnik, Andraz Kovacic
Spain	Carlos del Cerro Grande	Juan Carlos Yuste Jimenez, Roberto Alonso Fernandez
Spain	Antonio Mateu Lahoz	Pau Cebrian Devis, Roberto Dias Perez del Palomar
Sweden	Andreas Ekberg	Mehmet Culum, Stefan Hallberg
Turkey	Cuneyt Cakir	Bahattin Duran, Tarik Ongun

VAR will also be in use for the first time in any European Championship with 17 VAR Referees and five Offside VAR Referees from eight different countries selected.

Country	VAR Referee	Offside VAR
England	Stuart Attwell, Chris Kavanagh	Lee Betts
France	Jerome Brisard, Francois Letexier	Benjamin Pages
Germany	Bastian Dankert, Christian Dingert, Marco Fritz	Christian Gittelmann
Italy	Marco Di Bello, Massimiliano Irrati, Paolo Valeri	Filippo Meli
Netherlands	Kevin Blom, Pol van Boekel	N/A
Poland	Pawel Gil	N/A
Portugal	Joao Pinheiro	N/A
Spain	Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez, Juan Martinez Munuera, Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez	Inigo Prieto Lopez de Cerain

UEFA have also named six Support Match Officials and six Reserve Assistant Referees from six different European countries, with France and Italy the only countries to have representatives selected across all areas of refereeing teams for this tournament.

Country	Fourth Official	Reserve Assistant Referee
Bulgaria	Georgi Kabakov	Martin Margaritov
France	Stephanie Frappart	Mikael Berchebru
Italy	Davide Massa	Stefano Alassio
Poland	Bartosz Frankowski	Marcin Boniek
Serbia	Srdan Jovanovic	Uros Stojkovic
Switzerland	Sandro Scharer	Stephane De Almeida

 

Stat Attack

• Germany have participated in more Euro Grand Finals than any other UEFA team, winning and losing three of their six Final appearances apiece.
• Only one of 16 previous Finals in the European Championship has been settled on a penalty shootout, as Czechoslovakia beat West Germany 5-3 on penalties in 1976 Final after a 2-2 draw following extra-time.
• Netherlands, Denmark and Greece are the only three winners to have only won the competition once, with all three title winning successes coming in their maiden and currently only Final appearance in this competition.
• No team has made more appearances in the tournament without winning the competition than England, who have qualified for this competition for the tenth time and reached the Quarter-Finals stage in seven of their nine previous appearances.
• Only Spain have ever defended their Euro title in the following tournament, having won in 2008 before defending their crown in 2012 without conceding in either Final against Germany and Italy respectively.
• Finland and North Macedonia are making their maiden debuts at any major tournament in international football.
• Spain boasts the youngest squad age average for Euro 2020 at just 24 years and one month old, as well as the youngest player after Barcelona’s 18 year-old Pedri was selected in the final squad.