What you should know about Euro 2024? These are the data and the favorites for the title

The Euro Cup begins in Germany and already several teams are positioned as favorites for being historic on the continent. The 24 teams will compete to find out which will be the new European champion.

The Euro Cup begins in Germany and already several teams are positioned as favorites for being historic on the continent. The 24 teams will compete to find out which will be the new European champion.

The opening match is played this Friday at 2 pm Colombian time at the Allianz Arena in Munich with the confrontation between Germany and Scotland, the first in group A. This will be the first edition of the tournament after the pandemic.

Host cities

This time, more than 2 and a half million European fans are expected to travel to different cities in Germany to attend the 51 matches redistributed in 10 different stadiums. From the country, it is expected that the atmosphere will be similar to that experienced in the 2006 World Cup of which they hosted.

The cities that will host the emotions of this edition of the European national team tournament will be Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dortmund, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf.

The most popular of the title

The defending champion is Italy, which arrives after failing to qualify for the World Cup for the second consecutive time. Italy occupies group B along with Croatia, Albania and Spain.

The latter, headed by Luis de la Fuente as technical director, brings a measured group but with several names that could surprise and make Spain return to the European podium after 2012. Lamine Yamal, the 16-year-old youth player who currently plays in Barcelona will most likely be a player who makes the difference.

The other big favorite is France, which is hungry after losing the World Cup final against Argentina. Kylian Mbappé is the player to follow in this team that seeks to improve its participation in the tournament after being eliminated in the round of 16 of the previous edition in which they defended the title and came as great favorites after winning Russia 2018.

England, current runners-up, will also have several interesting concepts for the tournament. Harry Kane will seek to give the English team their first title with the help of youth star Jude Bellingham. Gareth Southgate, although he did not call up regulars like Jordan Henderson or Jack Grealish, has a squad full of great players.

Portugal, winners for the first time in 2016, will be another tough team in this edition. Cristiano Ronaldo will seek to repeat the feat of 8 years ago and will be accompanied by talents such as Joao Cancelo, Joao Félix and Pepe in defense.

Finally, the host and always favorite Germany, with Julián Nagelsmann at the helm, has a commitment to its people. Furthermore, Toni Kroos, the team’s main representative, will want to say goodbye by handing the trophy to the German people.