EURO 2024 play-offs: How they work, state of play

Twelve teams will compete in the UEFA EURO 2024 play-offs on 21 and 26 March 2024. Three of them will earn last-minute tickets to the final tournament.

Last updated Tuesday 21 November 23:00 CET

How the play-off paths are formed, based on the final European Qualifiers standings

Path C: Georgia / Greece / Kazakhstan / Luxembourg
Path B: Israel / Bosnia and Herzegovina / two teams to be drawn from Finland, Ukraine, Iceland
Path A: Poland / Wales / one team to be drawn from Finland, Ukraine, Iceland / Estonia

What are the play-off brackets in each path?

Semi-finals – Path C: Georgia (1) vs Luxembourg (4), Greece (2) vs Kazakhstan (3)
Semi-finals – Path B: Israel (1) vs Ukraine / Iceland (4)*, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2) vs Finland / Ukraine (3)*
Semi-finals – Path A: Poland (1) vs Estonia (4), Wales (2) vs Finland / Ukraine / Iceland (3)

Final Path C: Georgia / Luxembourg vs Greece / Kazakhstan (hosts to be drawn)
Final Path B: Israel / Ukraine / Iceland vs Bosnia and Herzegovina / Finland / Ukraine (hosts to be drawn)
Final Path A: Poland / Estonia vs Wales / Finland / Ukraine / Iceland (hosts to be drawn)

When are the fixtures?

There will be six semi-finals on 21 March 2024 and three finals on 26 March 2024, with the three winning teams in those games completing the 24-team EURO finals line-up.

When and where is the play-off draw?

The play-off draw takes place at The House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland from midday CET on Thursday 23 November.

Are the play-offs new?

There have been play-offs for six of the last seven EUROs. The UEFA EURO 2020 play-offs offered a different format, though. For the first time, teams had to come through more than one round and, unlike all previous editions, sides qualified to participate via the Nations League, rather than the European Qualifiers. The same format was employed for the European play-offs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup (though, in that case, only two Nations League teams qualified for the play-offs together with ten European Qualifiers group runners-up), and therefore this is now the third time that single-leg matches will be used.

How do the play-offs work?

Twelve teams are selected based on their performances in the 2022/23 Nations League – nominally the group winners of Leagues A, B and C, but if they have already qualified they will be replaced by the next best-ranked team in their league. The four play-off slots are allocated to each league from League C to League A in reverse alphabetical order.

If fewer than four teams from one league enter the play-offs, the first available slot is allocated to the best-ranked group winner of League D, Estonia.

Remaining slots are then allocated on the basis of the overall 2022/23 Nations League rankings, to the best-ranked teams that have not already qualified, subject to the restriction that group winners of Leagues A, B and C cannot be in a play-off path with teams from a higher league.