Euro 2024 state of play: Tables, schedule and what you may have missed

Euro 2024 is in full swing and already it has delivered drama, stunning goals and hard-fought matches.

The group stage will run until a week today, June 26, when eight of the 24 competing national teams will be eliminated.

The top two sides in each of the six groups will advance to the knockout stage, where they will be joined by the four highest-ranked third-placed teams.

If teams are level on points, the tiebreaker to decide who finishes where will be points obtained in matches between the sides in question, not overall goal difference, like it is at the World Cup. If teams still cannot be split, it will go to goal difference in all group matches.

The round-of-16 games take place from Saturday, June 29 to Tuesday, July 2; the quarter-finals are on Friday, July 5 and Saturday, July 6; the semi-finals on Tuesday, July 9 and Wednesday, July 10; and the final in Berlin is on Sunday, July 14.

Here, The Athletic analyses the state of play in each group, and who may face who in the knockout stage. We will update this piece as the tournament progresses.

Group A

Hosts Germany are through to the knockout stage after thrashing Scotland 5-1 in the opening game in Munich and then beating Hungary 2-0 in Stuttgart.

Switzerland are in second following their 3-1 win over Hungary on June 15 and face Scotland this evening (Wednesday, June 19).

The winners of this group will play the runners-up in Group C in Dortmund on June 29, with the second-placed side facing the runners-up from Group B in Berlin earlier that same day.

Group B

The ‘group of death’ at this Euros saw the fastest goal in the history of the European Championship when Albania’s Nedim Bajrami scored after 23 seconds against Italy on June 15. Luciano Spalletti’s team fought back, however, winning 2-1 via first-half goals from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barella.

Earlier that day, Spain beat 2022 World Cup semi-finalists Croatia 3-0, thanks to goals from Alvaro Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Carvajal. Morata, who opened the scoring, has now found the net seven times at the European Championship — leaving just Cristiano Ronaldo and Michel Platini ahead of him on the all-time list.

Croatia got their act together and nearly beat Albania 2-1 in their second group game today (June 19), thanks to an Andrej Kramaric strike and an own goal by Klaus Gjasula, but Gjasula scored at the other end in the fifth minute of added time to snatch a 2-2 draw.

Italy and Spain meet tomorrow (June 20) in a match which will go a long way to determining who wins this group.

Whoever does finish first will play a third-placed team on June 30 in Cologne, with the Group B runners-up in Berlin for the very first game of the knockout stage on June 29, against the second-place side in Group A.

Group C

England are top following their 1-0 win against Serbia on June 16, with Slovenia and Denmark having drawn 1-1 earlier in the day. Gareth Southgate’s side play Denmark tomorrow (June 20), in a repeat of a Euro 2020 semi at Wembley which England won in extra time to reach their first final since 1966.

GO DEEPER

England start Euro 2024 with a win – but there was that familiar issue of losing control

Earlier in the day, Serbia will be aiming to pick up their first points of the competition against Slovenia at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

The group winners here will play a third-placed team in Gelsenkirchen on June 30, with the runners-up in Dortmund the day before against the winners of Group A, which as things stand will be Germany.

Group D

The big story in Group D so far is Kylian Mbappe’s broken nose. France’s captain and talismanic forward was taken off covered in blood following a collision with Austria’s Kevin Danso late in the second half of their 1-0 win yesterday (June 18). The 25-year-old, who won the Golden Boot at the 2022 World Cup, is a doubt for his country’s game against Netherlands on Friday (June 21) and could also miss the group finale against Poland (Tuesday, June 25) that follows.

GO DEEPER

Explained: Kylian Mbappe’s broken nose, the diagnosis and the pros and cons of protective masks

He did play a key part in that win over Austria, however — with his dangerous run resulting in Maximilian Wober scoring the own goal that gave France all three points.

In the other Group D game that has been played so far, the Netherlands beat Poland 2-1 in Hamburg on Sunday (June 16) thanks to substitute Wout Weghorst’s late strike. The 31-year-old former Manchester United forward swept the ball home just two minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Poland, who will be hoping to have their all-time top goalscorer Robert Lewandowski back from injury, play Austria on Friday and both sides will be desperate to pick up their first points of the competition.

The winners of this group will play in the last round-of-16 match on July 2 in Leipzig, against the team who finish second in Group F. The runners-up will take on the second-placed team from Group E the day before in Dusseldorf.

Group E

The shock of the group stage so far came when Slovakia battled to a 1-0 win over Belgium in Frankfurt on Monday (June 17). It was — in FIFA rankings terms — the biggest upset in European Championship history. Earlier that day, Romania beat Ukraine 3-0, with Nicolae Stanciu scoring a fantastic strike from outside the box that found the top corner.

Slovakia play Ukraine on Friday (June 21) before Belgium, who will be hoping Romelu Lukaku finds his feet in front of goal at this tournament sooner rather than later, take on Romania the following day.

GO DEEPER

Romelu Lukaku – a Belgium legend finding tournament football an unforgiving stage

The winners of this group will take on a third-placed side in Munich on July 2; the runners-up will face the team who come second in Group D the day before in Dusseldorf.

Group F

The game of the Euros (so far) was the Group F meeting between Turkey and Georgia yesterday (June 18), which finished 3-1 to the former. Mert Muldur and Arda Guler both scored stunning long-range strikes for Turkey, with a goal by Georgia’s Georges Mikautadze sandwiched between them.

Then, in added time, with Georgia pushing for an equaliser and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili up in the opposition penalty box, Turkey broke clear and Kerem Akturkoglu put the ball in an empty net to make it a 3-1 win.

GO DEEPER

Euro 2024’s best match so far shows why it’s shaping up to be a brilliant tournament

That night, Portugal snatched a last-gasp winner against the Czech Republic in a game that saw 41-year-old Pepe become the oldest player in the history of the European Championship and his team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo become the first player to appear in six editions of the competition.

Roberto Martinez’s side play Turkey next on Saturday (June 22) and Ronaldo will be desperate to score in a record-extending sixth European Championship after failing to find the net against the Czechs. Earlier that day, Georgia and the Czech Republic will face off in Hamburg with both teams knowing defeat would leave them on the brink of elimination.

The winners of this group will play a third-placed team in Frankfurt on July 1 and whoever comes second will take on Group D’s winners the next day in Leipzig.

Here is the bracket for the knockout stage. The Athletic will update this as the tournament progresses.

(Top photo: Croatia scoring against Albania; Dan Mullan via Getty Images)