The draw for the Euro, which gave Austria, the Netherlands and a play-off as opponents of the France team, forced the Blues to face, by finishing both first and second in the group, a second group in the round of 16.
Since the move to 24 teams for Euro 2016 in France, the four best third-placed teams (out of the six groups of four) also advance to the round of 16 of the competition along with the first two from each group. If you followed everything correctly, four group winners will challenge a third, while two group winners will therefore inherit a second in the round of 16. This is the case for the French team!
In the event of first place in their group D, the world vice-champions will face the second in group F and, in the event of second place, they will challenge the second in group E. This is not trivial! In the first case, the Blues could face Portugal, Turkey, the Czechs or the winner of play-off C. In the second case, they could face Belgium, Slovakia, Romania or the winner of play-off B. Not so easy!
In short, under no circumstances will Kylian Mbappé and his teammates play in a round of 16 of the Euro against a third in the group. If they finish among the four best thirds after facing Austria, the Netherlands and the winner of play-off A (the Final Four pits Poland-Estonia and Wales-Finland), they could then face the winner of groups B ( Spain, Croatia or Italy?), C (England?) or E (Belgium?).
All set for EURO 2024! 🤩#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/QXnMaOBeBZ
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) December 2, 2023
