The next big chapter in the success of Slovenian football is here. With a victory against Kazakhstan (2:1), Matjaž Kek’s wards confirmed their way to the European Championship in Germany, and in the morning after a new historic evening, we are already looking towards June and thinking about what awaits our selected team at Euro 2024. It is clear that the Slovenians will wait for the draw in the third round, and with that they have put the Croats in a difficult position, and even more so the Serbs and the Italians.
A hit Benjamin Verbič in the 86th minute of the match of the last qualifying round for Euro 2024, with which Slovenia defeated Kazakhstan and confirmed the trip to Germany, he brought great relief in the first place. Slovenian suffering and nervousness at the door of great success is over, wards Matjaža Kek confirmed their place among the twenty-four best national teams of the Old Continent.
Besides the relief, Verbič’s goal brought another important thing to Slovenia. A place in the third strength drum in the December draw, when the ball dance will decide who our national team will face in the fourth major competition in its history. “I don’t really care if we were in the fifth or sixth drum. It’s just that our ball is next to it,” thought the Slovenian coach yesterday after the match. But when looking towards Euro 2024, it is of course also important what starting point Slovenia will take against Germany.
On December 2, from 18:00, you will be able to watch the Euro 2024 group draw live on Sportklub. We will also broadcast all 51 matches of the upcoming European Championship live on our television.
Due to the victory of Slovenia and Slovakia, the Serbs fell into the 4th round, and the Italians will probably be there as well
However, Slovenia’s victory did not please some other national teams, who, with the success of our selected group, lost their places in the overall ranking of all ranked national teams at Euro 2024. The criteria for ranking according to quality drums before the group draw are clear. Only achievements in qualifications count. The top five winners of the groups together with the host Germany qualified for the first drum. This one is already assembled, it also includes Belgium, England, France, Portugal and Spain.
The second drum, in which the remaining winners of the groups and the best runner-up national team, is more or less already arranged. It will feature the Hungarians, Danes, Austrians and Albanians, as well as the Swiss or Romanians (depending on the outcome of the head-to-head) and most likely the Turks, who must not lose against Wales tonight to achieve this, with Croatia beating Armenia.
In the third drum we then find Slovenia, which is joined by Scotland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. It is very likely that Croatia will also be in it, which can only be deprived of this place by a possible defeat against Armenia. In this case, Italy would join the third drum, which otherwise will even fall into the fourth drum due to the Slovenian victory. For now, only the Serbs are confirmed in it, who managed to get a ticket to Germany despite their not-so-glamorous results in the qualifiers.
Strength drums of the draw groups for Euro 2024
Drum 1: Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, France
2nd drum: Hungary, Austria, Denmark, Albania, Switzerland/Romania, ?
3rd drum: SloveniaScotland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, ?
4th drum: Serbia, Switzerland/Romania, three qualifiers through the League of Nations, ?
Ranked but waiting for the drum: Turkey, Italy
Today, Croatia and Wales are also fighting for a direct qualification to the Euro
We will get a lot of answers about who Slovenia’s potential opponents at the European Championship are tonight, when the regular part of the qualifications ends. The definitive picture of the groups will only be given by the additional qualifiers in the League of Nations in March. They include the national teams of Poland, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Ukraine, Iceland, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Estonia and Wales or Croatia.
From 4:00 p.m. today, you can greet the Slovenian representatives at the reception they are preparing on Kongresni trg.
