Euro 2024 predictions podcast: Who will win the tournament?
Euro 2024 has finally arrived and the battle for European domination begins.
While winning the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards will be on the minds of many, going all the way and firing your nation to glory will be the true goal of every player heading to Germany. From pre-tournament favourites to dangerous dark horses, any number of nations will be fancying their chances and there are sure to be plenty of twists and turns along the way.
At Squawka, we’ve released our predictions, looking at how the group stages will pan out, who will win the individual awards and, most importantly, who will lift the trophy.
Watch the full podcast above or read on for a breakdown of what to expect.
Squawka’s Euro 2024 predictions
- Euro 2024 predictions podcast: Favourites, dark horses or flops? Rating every team from Group A, B and C
- Euro 2024 predictions podcast: Favourites, dark horses or flops? Rating every team from Group D, E and F
- Euro 2024 predictions podcast: Who will be named Young Player of the Tournament?
- Euro 2024 predictions podcast: Rating the favourites to win Player of the Tournament by team and position
England, France or Portugal?
Right now, England and France are the two major favourites, priced at 3/1 and 4/1, respectively. Portgual are a little further back at 8/1 but are getting some serious traction thanks to their star-studded attack, including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Rafael Leao. What’s more, these are all sides that could meet each other very deep into the tournament, as late as the semi-finals or even the final. So, how do you split them?
“I’ve been torn between England, France and Portugal to be honest, but I think there’s just a little bit more quality in that France team across the whole pitch,” said Squawka’s Dean Smith. “They’ve got experience in these international tournaments, they’ve been to so many finals in recent years and in [Kylian] Mbappe, I think they’ve got the best player in the tournament.
“For me, [Didier] Deschamps is a manager who knows how to get to the final of these tournaments. I don’t think he’s the most progressive manager in the world, I think we’d all agree with that. But you don’t need to be to win these tournaments. They’ll find a way to make Mbappe the star man and when that is the case, he’s very rarely stopped.”
So, why can’t Gareth Southgate’s England end their age-old tournament heartbreak? After all, they’ve reached World Cup semi-finals and quarter-finals under his management, as well as the final of the last Euros and third place at the 2018/19 Nations League.
“It’s England isn’t it? The nearly boys,” Squawka’s Jack Verweij joked. “I just think the difference here is the manager. Deschamps has been there and won it. The Spain manager (Luis de la Fuente) doesn’t have the experience some of the others have. But with Southgate; the way some of these players play for their club teams, they’re allowed to express themselves. If he doesn’t let them do that in the same way for the national team, then you’re not getting the same out of those players as you do for their clubs. I can just see them falling short when they come up against better teams, as they have historically done under Southgate.”
Spain
Although they’ve floundered at the World Cup, Spain have enjoyed some strong tournament runs in recent years, reaching the semi-finals of the last Euros and losing to France in the 2020/21 Uefa Nations League final, before beating Croatia to win the last edition of that very tournament.
La Roja aren’t quite among the outright favourites for Euro 2024, priced alongside Portugal at 8/1, but have more than enough talent to hurt pretty much anyone at the tournament on their day. Of course, key to their chances is Manchester City midfield lynchpin Rodri, who is arguably the very best player on the planet in his position right now.
“Rodri just doesn’t lose football games, unless it’s against Scotland apparently,” Verweij quipped, adding: “If you don’t have the ball, it’s hard to win a football game and Spain will have the ball for pretty much all of the games they’re in. And they make every team that they play against play in a way they don’t want to. I think they’ll frustrate a lot of teams and for me, they’re not the team to beat. France and England are the teams to beat, but they’ll be the surprise package and win the tournament this year.”
Darkhorses
With the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Virgil van Dijk, Florian Wirtz and Nicolo Barella within their ranks, it’s very difficult to call nations like Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany or Italy ‘dark horses’. Especially with the latter two hosts and holders, respectively. But they’re certainly not as fancied by many as the above sides.
And then let’s not forget Croatia, who have made a habit of going deep into tournaments under Zlatko Dalic, or Denmark, who reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020 before losing to England.
The European Championships are seen by many as even more difficult to win than the World Cup, even with the absence of Argentina and Brazil. And with such a strong, competitive field this time, it’s easy to see why.
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