When is Euro 2020 qualification? Groups, fixtures, results & all you need to know

The long road to Euro 2020 begins next year and the groups are now known following December’s draw in Dublin

International football in Europe has been complicated somewhat by the inception of the Nations League, but the top prize in the continent remains the European Championship.

Euro 2020, the 16th edition of the UEFA competition, is being styled as a celebration, with games being held across Europe to mark the 60th birthday of the first ever tournament. 

UEFA’s 55 member associations will be desperate to take their place on the stage for such a historic venture, but there is only room for an exclusive group to compete at the finals.

The qualification stage is set to get under way in 2019 and the groups are all known. So with the draw done, Goal brings you everything you need to know.

The draw for Euro 2020 qualifying took place on Sunday, December 2, 2018.

It was held in Ireland at the Convention Centre Dublin and proceedings will get started at 11am GMT (6am ET).

The Nations League finals draw will be held a day later, on December 3, and it will also take place in Dublin.

The qualifying cycle is scheduled to begin on March 21-23, 2019 and group games will be played in June, September, October and November.

The Euro 2020 play-off draw will be held on November 22 at the conclusion of the groups, with the play-offs themselves being played in March 2019.

Note: Teams marked with an asterisk are assured of a place in the play-offs thanks to their Nations League performance.

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In the United Kingdom, Euro 2020 qualifiers will be available to watch on a number of different channels.

ITV will broadcast England qualifiers, while Sky Sports will broadcast the games of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. S4C will cover Wales games live in Welsh.

In the United States, ESPN and Univision have the rights to Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Euro 2020 will see 24 teams compete for the right to be crowned the best team in Europe.

As you can see above, there are 10 qualifying groups: five groups of five teams (A-E) and five groups of six (F-J). The top two teams in each group will qualify automatically for the European Championship.

The remaining four places at the tournament will be decided via play-offs, with 16 teams already guaranteed a place in that stage through their performance in the Nations League. 

Those 16 teams are the winners of each Nations League group, but they may potentially qualify directly through their qualification group, in which case the next best ranked team of their Nations League section is allocated the play-off place.

None of the host nations will qualify automatically but, in order to give them a better chance of qualifying, a maximum of two host nations can be drawn in the same group. 

The 16th edition of the European Championship will kick off on June 12, 2020 and it will conclude on July 12, 2020.

It will be held across 12 different cities in Europe, with UEFA celebrating the 60th birthday of the first European Championship (then called the European Nations Cup), which was held in France in 1960.

The final and semi-finals will be contested in London at Wembley Stadium.

Euro 2020 host cities