England and Wales have learned a portion of their opponents for next summer’s Euro 2020 tournament after the draw for the group stage of the competition was made on Saturday afternoon in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
The unique nature of next year’s 24-team competition – which will be hosted across Europe at 12 different venues – means a lot was already known before a ball was drawn, as the host nations needed to be placed in specific groups.
With Wembley one of the venues, England were already aware they would be in Group D, while Wales could only be placed in Group A or B – with Finland in the same boat. Group B had already been finalised for the most part, with Belgium, Denmark and Russia taking the three other spots.
Taking place at 5pm UK time, a favourable draw saw the Three Lions pitted against Croatia and the Czech Republic in Group D. The winners of Scotland’s Euro 2020 play-offs (Path C) will also be in the group. England will start the tournament again old foe Croatia at Wembley on 14 June.
In a slightly easier group, former champions Spain are joined by Sweden and Poland in Group E. The winner of the Republic and Northern Ireland’s play-off pool will be placed in that group too.
Here’s the group draw in full so far…
The Scots face Israel, while Northern Ireland take on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic play Slovakia in their respective semi-finals and will all be hoping to join the Three Lions and Wales in the tournament proper.
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