UEFA Euro 2024 Group B
Group B of UEFA Euro 2024 took place from 15 to 24 June 2024.[1] The group contained Spain, Croatia, defending champions Italy, and Albania. Spain, Italy, and Croatia were drawn together in Group C of the UEFA Euro 2012, and just like 2012, Croatia would go out in the group stage while Spain would go on to win the tournament.
Teams
[edit]| Draw position | Team | Pot | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | Qualifying Rankings November 2023[nb 1] | FIFA Rankings April 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 |  Spain | 1 | Group A winner | 15 October 2023 | 12th | 2020 | Winners (1964, 2008, 2012) | 3 | 8 |
| B2 |  Croatia | 3 | Group D runner-up | 21 November 2023 | 7th | 2020 | Quarter-finals (1996, 2008) | 14 | 10 |
| B3 |  Italy | 4 | Group C runner-up | 20 November 2023 | 11th | 2020 | Winners (1968, 2020) | 18 | 9 |
| B4 |  Albania | 2 | Group E winner | 17 November 2023 | 2nd | 2016 | Group stage (2016) | 10 | 66 |
Notes
- ^ The European Qualifiers overall rankings from November 2023 were used for seeding for the final draw.
Standings
[edit]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Italy | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | Croatia | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 | Albania | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 1 |
In the round of 16,[2]
- The winner of Group B, Spain, advanced to play the third-placed team of Group F, Georgia.
- The runner-up of Group B, Italy, advanced to play the runner-up of Group A, Switzerland.
Matches
[edit]Spain vs Croatia
[edit]Both teams previously met in the 2023 UEFA Nations League final, which Spain won on penalties. With his start, Spain's Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to make an appearance in the UEFA European Championship final tournament.[3]
         Spain[5] |     Croatia[5] |
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| Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[5] |
Italy vs Albania
[edit]Nedim Bajrami scored for Albania after 23 seconds, netting the fastest goal in the UEFA European Championship history.[7]
    Italy[9] |      Albania[9] |
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| Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[9] |
Croatia vs Albania
[edit]Croatia[11] |     Albania[11] |
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| Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[11] |
Spain vs Italy
[edit]Italy and Spain faced each other in a fifth consecutive European Championships.[14] Their most notable clash was Spain's 4–0 victory in the UEFA Euro 2012 final.
Spain[16] |     Italy[16] |
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| Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[16] |
Albania vs Spain
[edit]Albania[18] |     Spain[18] |
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| Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[18] |
Croatia vs Italy
[edit]With his goal, Croatia's Luka Modrić became the oldest goalscorer in the UEFA European Championship final tournament.[21] However, the draw caused Croatia to finish last among the four best-ranked third-placed teams, eliminating them. This was the first time Croatia had failed to advance to the knockout stage of the Euros since Euro 2012 and in any major international football tournament since the 2014 World Cup.[22]
Croatia[24] |  Italy[24] |
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| Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[24] |
Discipline
[edit]Fair play points would have been used as a tiebreaker if the head-to-head and overall records of teams had been tied (and if a penalty shoot-out was not applicable as a tiebreaker). These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all group matches as follows:[2]
- yellow card = 1 point
- red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points
- direct red card = 3 points
- yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player or team official in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  | | | | | | | | | | ||
| Spain | 1 | 3 | 1 | −5 | |||||||||
| Italy | 2 | 2 | 3 | −7 | |||||||||
| Albania | 2 | 3 | 3[a] | −8 | |||||||||
| Croatia | 2[a] | 6 | −8 | ||||||||||
See also
[edit]- Albania at the UEFA European Championship
- Croatia at the UEFA European Championship
- Italy at the UEFA European Championship
- Spain at the UEFA European Championship
Notes
[edit]- ^ While sources initially indicated that Albania manager Sylvinho was shown a yellow card,[19] replays indicated that the card was instead given to his assistant manager Ervin Bulku.[20]
References
[edit]- ^ "UEFA Euro 2024 match schedule" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
- ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship, 2022–24". Union of European Football Associations. 10 May 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
- ^ "Lamine Yamal sets new record as youngest player to feature at a UEFA European Championship". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ "Full Time Report – Spain v Croatia" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tactical Line-ups – Spain v Croatia" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Every Euro 2024 Player of the Match". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ "Who scored the fastest goals at UEFA European Championship final tournaments?". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ "Full Time Report – Italy v Albania" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tactical Line-ups – Italy v Albania" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ "Full Time Report – Croatia v Albania" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tactical Line-ups – Croatia v Albania" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ Hashim, Taha (19 June 2024). "Croatia 2–2 Albania: Euro 2024 – as it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
65 min: The ref stops play as Sutalo goes down. There's a yellow shown by the ref to someone in the Croatian backroom staff, Vedran Corluka apparently, for doing something naughty.
- ^ "European Championship 2024: Booking List before Final tournament Matchday 3" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 June 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
- ^ Robson, James (19 June 2024). "Euro 2024: Heavyweight rivals Italy and Spain meet for the fifth European Championship in a row". Associated Press. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
- ^ "Full Time Report – Spain v Italy" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tactical Line-ups – Spain v Italy" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "Full Time Report – Albania v Spain" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tactical Line-ups – Albania v Spain" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ Bailey, Michael; Miller, Nick (24 June 2024). "How Spain maintained their perfect record at Euro 2024 with win over Albania". The Athletic. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Waging [sic] the finger – 52' Albania 0–1 Spain: Sylvinho has been booked for some over-enthusiastic protests against a free-kick being given against his Albania side — and he pushes his luck still further by wagging his finger with some gusto at the referee as he is walking off.
- ^ Harty, Colm (director) (24 June 2024). Euro 2024 – Albania v Spain. BBC Two (Television production). Düsseldorf. Event occurs at 1:50:35 (61:56 on game clock). Retrieved 29 June 2024.
- ^ "Euro's oldest scorers: Modrić sets new record". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ Cootes, Isobel (19 June 2024). "'The end of an era': Croatia fail to live up to expectations at EURO 2024". Optus Sport. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
- ^ "Full Time Report – Croatia v Italy" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tactical Line-ups – Croatia v Italy" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.