Off the back of a rollercoaster period for the Azzurri which saw the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the Italians return to the European Championships as holders – a title dulled by the Azzurri’s absence at the 2022 World Cup after failing to qualify.
It was hardly plain sailing for the Dutch. A 4-0 defeat against France left the Netherlands chasing qualification for the rest of the campaign and in a two-horse race with Greece, they claimed a pivotal 1-0 victory in Athens to secure a ticket in the next game against the Republic of Ireland.
Poland left it late to secure qualification to this summer’s European Championships, progressing by way of penalty shootout versus 10-man Wales back in March.
Portugal breezed through the qualifiers to win every single match of their campaign for the first time.
After failing to qualify last time round, Romania’s participation was impressively achieved with an unbeaten run of six wins and four draws.
June 12 – The Premier League is potentially facing legal action from one of its club owners over its profit and sustainability rules.
June 11 – England may be the bookies’ favourites for Euro 2024 but an analysis by the CIES Football Observatory has Germany and Spain as the teams most likely to win.
June 12 – If numerous reports were anything to go by, it was one of football’s open secrets. Yet the secret has suddenly been turned on its head.
June 12 – In the first official spat with UEFA among those competing in the upcoming Euros, Switzerland have filed a formal complaint regarding the quality of the playing surface at their training camp.
June 12 – In an indictment of Igor Stimac’s management, India crashed out of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers after a 2-1 defeat against Qatar ended their hopes of making the third round group stages.
June 12 – The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) is to invest an additional BGN 200,000 (€100,000) per season to improve the VAR system in the Bulgarian first division – the efbet League. Currently, the BFU pays BGN 1 million (€500,000) per season for VAR.
June 12 – Miroslav Klose has become the new manager of German club Nuremberg in a two-year deal.
June 11 – England manager Gareth Southgate has admitted that the upcoming European Championships in Germany could be his final swansong in charge of the national team.
June 12 – Poland have been rocked by the news that their talisman and captain Robert Lewandowski will miss his side’s opening Euro 2024 game against the Netherlands on Sunday because of a thigh injury.
June 12 – The AFC will hold its draw for the qualifiers for the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2025 and AFC U20 Asian Cup 2025 tomorrow at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.