Bosnia and Herzegovina will be the host of the EMF EURO 2024. The tournament, consisting of 24 teams, will start on the 1st of June and the final will be held on the 8th of June.
POT 1 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Slovakia
In Pot 1 we have the host nation Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they’re joined by the top 5 ranked teams from the 2022 Euros. Romania being the current World Champions will start as favourites and be looking to make it Euros number 7 for them, but Azerbaijan will be looking to defend their European title they won in Kosice 2 years ago. Bulgaria, Slovakia and World Cup runners up, Kazakhstan make up the top pot, and Kazakhstan will be looking to win the trophy after being seconds away from World Cup glory in November.ň
POT 2 – Hungary, Czech Republic, France, Serbia, Ukraine, Montenegro
Teams that filled places 6th – 11th in Kosice make up Pot 2 and a rejuvenated Czech side will be looking to win back their European trophy that they won so emphatically in Kiev during their period of Minifootball dominance. France were the surprise package 2 years ago and will be disappointed not to have made it out of the group stages at the recent World Cup, despite a difficult draw, so they will want to do better this time. Serbia continue to threaten there’s a big tournament in them, but so far they’ve failed to deliver, can this be their year?! Hungary, Ukraine and Montenegro make up the teams in the second pot.
POT 3 – England, Georgia, Italy, Poland, Spain, Slovenia
A loss in their final group game 2 years ago when they’d already qualified has ultimately cost England a place in Pot 2, so they’ll have to try and overcome a more trickier path this time. Spain are starting to look like their old selves and they could be a surprise package this year. Georgia are another team that are quietly going about their business and somewhat going under the radar but no country will want to draw them out of Pot 3. They’re getting stronger by the tournament. Poland, Italy and Slovenia complete the third pot and will hope to get a good draw as the top 2 pots look daunting.
POT 4 – Portugal, Albania, Greece, Austria, Turkey, Croatia
Here’s the last pot, Pot 4, made up of the teams with the most difficult task in hand, to overcome 3 teams who are all ranked higher than them. Croatia will be hoping to return to their form in years gone by when they were beaten finalists 3 times in 4 years from 2013 – 2016. Portugal are a good team as well and will be hoping they can progress from whatever group they’re drawn in, to ensure they’re not in Pot 4 next time as they will feel they’re better than that. Of the other teams, Austria, Turkey, Greece and Albania, all of them can shock their opponents on any given day, that’s what makes Minifootball so great, even teams in Pot 4 can spring a surprise.
The draw for this year’s EMF Euros will take place in the host city on the 4th April at 1pm local time and you’ll be able to watch it live.