The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament will take place in Germany and 24 teams will compete to be crowned European champions.
Italy is the defending champion, having won the last edition by beating England in the final on penalties.
The 2024 edition marks the tournament's return to its usual four-year cycle after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here's everything you need to know about Euro 2024:
What are the key dates?
The month-long championship will begin on June 14 at the Munich Football Arena with hosts Germany playing Scotland.
The group stage will run until June 26 and the knockout stage will begin on June 29. The final will be played on July 14 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
This will be the first time Germany has hosted the tournament since its unification in 1990. The 1988 edition was held in what was then West Germany.
Germany was chosen as the host nation at a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, in 2018. Turkey was the only other nation to bid to host the tournament.
Where is the tournament taking place?
Ten venues have been chosen for the tournament. Of these, nine were used when Germany hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Here are the host cities and stadiums:
⚽ Berlin: Olympiastadion Berlin (capacity: 71,000)
⚽ Colony: Cologne Stadium (43,000)
⚽Dortmund: BVB Dortmund Stadium (62,000)
⚽ Dusseldorf: Düsseldorf Stadium (47,000)
⚽ Frankfurt: Frankfurt Arena (47,000)
⚽Gelsenkirchen: Arena Auf Schalke (50,000)
⚽ Hamburg: Volksparkstadion Hamburg (49,000)
⚽ Leipzig: Leipzig Stadium (40,000)
⚽ Munich: Munich Football Stadium (66,000)
⚽ Stuttgart: Stuttgart Stadium (51,000)
Munich will host matches for the second consecutive Euro Cup, having been one of the 11 venues that held matches during Euro 2020.
How many teams participate?
Twenty-four teams divided into six groups will participate in the tournament. There will be 51 games in total.
⚽ Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland
⚽ Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania
⚽ Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England
⚽ Group D: Poland, Netherlands, Austria, France
⚽ Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine
⚽ Group F: Türkiye, Georgia, Portugal, Czech Republic
Georgia is the only team debuting in the finals of the European Championship, while Ukraine and Poland qualified through the playoffs.
Who are the favorites?
France, Germany, England, Portugal and Spain are among the favorites.
Portugal was the only team to win all of its matches during the qualifying phase, while France and England were undefeated and Spain only lost one match.
Germany is also considered a favorite to host, despite a disappointing performance at the 2022 World Cup.
What key teams failed to qualify?
Sweden and Norway are the two big names that failed to qualify for Euro 2024. The Swedes missed the cut for the Euros for the first time since 1996, while Norway has not played since 2000.
Failure to qualify means fans will miss out on seeing high-profile Premier League players such as Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and Alexander Isak in Germany.
What is the format of the tournament?
The two best teams in each group along with the four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16. This will be followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The winner of Euro 2024 will compete in the 2025 CONMEBOL-UEFA Champions Cup against the winner of Copa América 2024.
What is the size of the squad?
UEFA, which governs European football, confirmed in May that the maximum team size will increase from 23 to 26 players.
Teams were allowed 26-man squads at Euro 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, but UEFA had initially planned to return to 23-man squads at Euro 2024.
Expanded squads were also allowed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because it was played in the middle of the domestic season.
Expanded squads are beneficial for coaches, as the busy schedule at club level creates more risk of injury for players.
When should teams submit their squads?
Participating countries had until June 7 to provide UEFA with a squad list containing a minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26.
You can follow the action on Al Jazeera's dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match build-ups and live text commentary, and stay up to date with the group standings and real-time match results and times.
