Group C at the Euro 2024 is an interesting group to look out for during the tournament. It consists of tournaments favorites England, expected Dark horses, Denmark, Serbia and supposed underdogs, Slovania.
Here is a guide to the group, teams history and expectations in the tournament.
SLOVANIA
The Slovenia national football team have appeared at the UEFA European Championship once, in 2000, with an upcoming second appearance in 2024.
Slovenia find themselves in an interesting group (Group C) comprising one of this year’s tournament favorites, England as well as Denmark and Serbia.
It’s taken Slovenia 24 years to qualify for another Euro Championship; during the qualifiers, they finished second in their group, behind Denmark but ahead of Finland, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland and San Marino.
In the 2000 Euro championship play-offs, they defeated Ukraine 3–2 on aggregate to qualify for their first major tournament.
At the finals, held in Belgium and the Netherlands, Slovenia were drawn into Group C together with Spain, Yugoslavia and Norway. In their inaugural match, Slovenia were leading 3–0 against Yugoslavia, but the match ended in a 3–3 draw.
In the second match, Slovenia narrowly lost to Spain. Their last game against Norway ended in a goalless draw, leaving Slovenia bottom of their group with two points. Zlatko Zahovič was one of the country’s key players, scoring three of the team’s four goals in the tournament.
DENMARK
One time Champions, Denmark, have participated in nine UEFA European Championships; with an upcoming tenth appearance in 2024 in Germany.
Their first tournament was the 1964 edition, in which they secured fourth place. In the final of UEFA Euro 1992 in Sweden, Denmark’s 2–0 victory over Germany resulted in their first major tournament title.
Many describe Denmark as one of the dark horses in Euro 2024, and are expecting a surprise from them with creative and fierce players like in their ranks such as Christian Eriksen, Rasmus Hojlund, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, Captain Simon Kjær, Mikel Damsgaard, Andreas Christensen, Yussuf Poulsen, etc…
In group C, comprising of England, Serbia and Slovania, Denmark are favorites to finish second in that group.
SERBIA
UEFA European Championship First timers Serbia, are expected to be the underdogs in a group comprising one of Euro 2024 favorites, England, Dark horses, Denmark and Slovania.
But with talented players in their ranks, fans of football should be braced up for surprise by Serbia who have top players like Aleksandar Mitrovic, Dusan Vlahovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Nemanja Matic, Dorde Petrovic, etc…
ENGLAND
Seen as one of the favorites to win the Euro 2024, England is yet to lay their hands on a major international trophy in what seems like forever.
The Three Lions’ best performance at the finals was a runner-up finish at Euro 2020, when they lost the final to Italy on penalties at Wembley.
They also had a third-place finish in Italy back in 1968, when only four teams competed in the finals tournament, and reached one further semi-final in 1996, losing to Germany, also on home soil and on penalties.
England first qualified in 1968, and have since participated in the finals on ten occasions (with an upcoming eleventh participation in 2024), including in 1996, when they were the host nation and thus did not need to qualify.
They reached the quarter-finals on two other occasions, losing to host nation Portugal on penalties in 2004 and to Italy in Ukraine in 2012, also on penalties.
England were eliminated in the round of 16 by Iceland in 2016. On the other four occasions (1980, 1988, 1992 and 2000), they did not progress beyond the group stage.
The aforementioned history on The Three Lions’ progress at the Euros is a worrisome one, putting their fans on edge after also losing their final int’l friendlies 1-0 to Iceland at Wembley.
But with the incredible form of The Three Lions’ exciting players, England have been backed to make it to the final, while Harry Kane, their Skipper is expected to be among the frontrunners for the top scorers award.
