As expected, the national football team will not play a guest role in qualifying for the 2024 home European Championship. In theory, the host country, Germany, could have played in one of the groups without a rating. Qatar had last done so in qualifying for the World Cup finals on their own country.
The German national soccer team will not play as a guest team when qualifying for the European Championship at home in 2024. This was confirmed by DFB Managing Director Oliver Bierhoff. Hosts France had made use of this opportunity before the EM 2016. The decision of the DFB was expected. “As hosts of the EM 2024, we are already qualified for the final round,” said Bierhoff of the ARD sports show: “This gives us the greatest possible flexibility when designing the international game phases next year and we can prepare optimally against several strong friendly opponents.”
However, national coach Hansi Flick recently regretted that after the World Cup in Qatar from November 20th to December 18th he missed the competitive games with a view to the home European Championship. His hope of reaching the final tournament of the Nations League 2023 with two games against well-known competition was not fulfilled, the DFB-Elf only took third place in the preliminary round behind European champions Italy and Hungary.
Theoretically, EM host Germany could have played in one of the groups without a rating. World Cup hosts Qatar last did this in qualifying for the finals of the World Cup on their own country. But that would have had the disadvantage that the DFB selection could not choose their opponents themselves. Qatar played in the European round as the sixth team in a group of five against Portugal, Serbia and Ireland, among others. Before their home tournament in 2016, the French had to deal with Portugal, Serbia and Denmark, among others. The draw for the European Championship qualification will take place on October 9th in Frankfurt am Main.
