England at Euro 2020: What do we know about Three Lions' prospects?
Last updated on .From the section England
England ensured a place as top seeds at Euro 2020 with a 4-0 win in Kosovo in their final qualifying game, a result which sheds some extra light on what they can expect at next summer's tournament.
Euro 2020 will be played across 12 host cities - including London - in the first European Championship to be staged in more than two countries.
So while we still do not know all the qualifiers or how all the groups will shape up, here's what we do know already...
- England's mixed bag - goals galore but which defensive duo?
- Who has qualified for Euro 2020 and who needs what in remaining games?
Will England be seeded?
Yes.
Six of the 10 qualifying group winners will be in the top seeds for next summer's tournament.
Those seedings are largely decided by who finishes where in these qualifying groups. The top six seeds will be the six group winners who earn the most points (excluding results against sixth-placed teams in larger groups), with goal difference used if teams are level on points.
Six of the other nine group leaders have dropped more points than England, so the Three Lions are sure to be seeded.
There is a caveat - as there always is with Uefa tournaments - that teams may be moved into another seeding pot. That could happen to avoid two host cities in the same group being in the same pot, but is unlikely to affect England.
Who might England face in Group D?
Although the draw has not taken place yet, we know for certain that England will be in Group D at the Euros.
If Scotland, who also host some Euro 2020 games, win next year's Nations League Path C play-offs, they will also be in the group with England.
As things stand, those play-off teams are Scotland, Norway, Serbia and one of Bulgaria, Israel or Romania - although that could change. If Romania were moved to another play-off to avoid two host cities being up for one spot - which appears likely - then the winner of those play-offs would definitely be in England's group.
The other two teams in the group will be decided in the Euro 2020 draw on Saturday, 30 November in Bucharest. But the fourth team will not be known until March's play-off.
England know they will not be in a group with Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany or the other six host countries.
But they could end up in the same group as World Cup finalists France or Croatia, or European champions Portugal - all of whom are likely to be second seeds. Switzerland and the Czech Republic are potential third-seed opponents.
What is England's schedule up to Euro 2020?
Gareth Southgate has two more England games before picking his squad, and another two before deciding his starting line-up for their opening Euro 2020 game at Wembley.
- England name squad for friendlies - week commencing Monday, 16 March
- England play two friendlies (opponents not yet known) between Monday, 23 March and Wednesday, 1 April
- England name Euro 2020 squad - week commencing Monday, 25 May
- England play two warm-up games (opponents not yet known) between Monday, 1 June and Wednesday, 10 June
- Tournament starts on 12 June
Where will England play their games?
By qualifying automatically - and Scotland failing to - England ensured they will play all three group matches at Wembley - on Sunday, 14 June, Friday, 19 June and Tuesday, 23 June.
If they are to reach the final, five of their seven matches will be at the national stadium, with only the last-16 and quarter-final matches to be played overseas.
If England win Group D, they would face the runners-up of Group F (the group which could contain Germany and/or Hungary) in Dublin. Win that and it would be a quarter-final in Rome - against Spain if La Roja win their group and last-16 tie.
If England finish second in Group D, their knockout matches would be further afield. They would play the Group E runners-up - a group containing Spain - in Copenhagen. Their prospective quarter-final would be in St Petersburg, possibly against Germany.
England could finish third in Group D and progress - the four best third-placed teams go through. In that case, a last-16 tie would be in Glasgow, Bilbao or Budapest. Munich, Baku and Rome would be potential quarter-final venues.
Get through those two rounds on the road and England would be back at Wembley. Both semi-finals and the final are at the London venue.
Who else has qualified for Euro 2020?
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine have also booked their places.
Two more places will be decided from this block of qualifiers - with Wales still in contention - with the other four coming from the Euro 2020 play-offs in March.
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They'll capitulate as soon as they come up against a decent team.
We also know proper fans don't boo their own players and certainly don't boo them because of a non entity of a story blown up by the media.
Oh wait!
Even tv just had to show Sterling’s face when Gomez came on. Pathetic. Can we watch the football please?
The media will overhype us into world beaters
We'll dust off "coming home" as we knock over a couple of minnows in the group
We'll scrape past Sweden
And the first half decent team with a proper plan and manager will turn us over
Still looking forward to it though.........it's coming h.......
@12
The sweaties are all upset again.
Aw, bless.
Yet the England fans boo Gomez for it? Honestly some people in this country
When compared to NI's group for example which has both Netherlands and Germany in it....you have to laugh at the groups England get
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NI get a harder group because of their ranking (34th), England an easier group because they ranked higher (4th). It's not rocket science. Qualifiers should be approached like the CL with pre qualifying groups IMO. Better quality and less games.
Sterling's pram has no toys.
Goal and cap records now meaningless
Play quality opposition we get beat
Ronaldo is a phenom
International football is pants
VAR is a joke
HYS is a platform for haters
BBC journalism pretty average.
Time for tea!!
Southgate has really changed this team by bringing in hungry young talent.
Average age 2010 WC = 28.7
Average age 2018 WC = 26
Average age last night = 23.7
For years us fans have been crying out for young players to get a chance.
We're actually heading in the right direction...!
A scotch trolling ENG about football, now THAT is funny!