Euro 2024 draw: England's best and worst case scenarios for group stage | OneFootball

@Dan_KP

England will learn their group-stage opponents for next summer's European Championship when the Euro 2024 draw takes place at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert hall today.

The Three Lions breezed through qualifying unbeaten and it is a measure of their progress under Gareth Southgate that nothing short of winning next summer's Euros will be considered a success in what is expected to be the manager's final tournament.

As one the five group winners with the most points in qualifying, England are one of six top seeds for the tournament, joining hosts Germany in Pot 1 along with France, Belgium, Portugal and Spain.

They cannot face another team from Pot 1 in the group and will be drawn alongside one nation from each of Pots 2, 3 and 4.

A worst-case scenario could see England drawn with Denmark, Croatia and holders Italy, who beat Southgate's side on penalties in the final of Euro 2020 but scraped automatic qualification for Euro 2024 ahead of Ukraine after losing to Southgate's side home and away.

England could also face Hungary, who beat them twice in last year's Nations League including a 4-0 win at Molineux in perhaps Southgate's worst day in the job.

The Netherlands and the auld enemy Scotland are also lurking in Pot 3 as potential banana skins.

In a best-case scenario, England could be drawn alongside Albania, Slovenia and one of the three undecided play-off winners.

Pot 2 is made up of the remaining group winners and best runners-up; Pot 3 of the runners-up ranked 2nd to 7th; and Pot 3 of the remaining runners-up and play-off winners.

Just as at Euro 2020, the top two in each of the six final tournament groups will progress to the last-16, along with the four best third-placed finishers.

The dates for every fixture have already been decided, although UEFA has only allocated kick-off times for the opening game (which will feature hosts Germany) plus the semi-finals and final, allowing England fans to start planning immediately.

Hamburg is one of 10 host cities for the tournament, with Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf also staging matches.