England could face group of death against Liverpool stars in new-look Euro draw
Gareth Southgate will be desperate to avoid a Group of Death at Euro 2024.
England are among the top seeds for the draw in the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg on Saturday but they could get a tricky route in next summer’s tournament.
They could get Hungary, Holland and Italy - raising the prospect of clashes with Liverpool pair Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai as well as a repeat of the heartbreaking Euro 2020 final - if luck goes against them in the ceremony which starts at 5pm UK time when England will not only discover their opponents but also the dates and where their matches will be played.
That is because UEFA have split the 24-strong team tournament into three regions to reduce travelling and the carbon footprint. Berlin will stage the final on July 14, Munich the opening game on June 14 and the other host cities will be Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dortmund, Leipzig, Gelsenkirchen, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf.
UEFA have three kick-off times scheduled for 2pm, 5pm and 8pm throughout the tournament so England fans will be hoping to avoid the afternoon slots otherwise it could become another national “sickie” day.
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England are among the favourites for Euro 2024 (PA)TV companies are certain to push hard for England games to be in the later slots but the tournament schedule means Southgate will know his fixture schedule on the day rather than having to wait another 24 hours which has often happened in the past.
The draw ceremony will include star names Sami Khedira, Wesley Sneijder, Miroslav Klose, Gianluigi Buffon, David Silva and Steve McManaman.
Scotland will also be awaiting their fate as they are qualified in pot three while Wales can still make it via the play-offs next March with three remaining places in pot four. It could mean that England could yet get a local rival in the ceremony which will be presented as a 50 minute TV show for viewers around Europe but the draw is only supposed to last 20 minutes which will be a departure from the long, drawn out affairs of recent years.
Southgate said: “There look like being really strong teams in pot two and pot three looks like it could be very strong. In the last Euros we had Croatia in with us, who proved to be one of the best teams in the world over the last few years and we managed to navigate that so we've just got to be ready for whatever comes our way.”
England boss Southgate will be at the ceremony while FA chief executive Mark Bullingham will also be in attendance with UEFA also holding an ExCo meeting on Saturday morning ahead of the draw.
Southgate has already been given options for England’s training base - they cannot decide until they know which region and pathway they are drawn into - but the FA may not confirm where they will stay until the end of the year.
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