How Teams Qualify for Euro 2020
The Euro 2020 qualifiers begin on Thursday, with 24 teams expected to qualify for the tournament.
UEFA has divided its 55 national teams into 10 qualifying groups. Five groups have six teams, while the other five have five teams.
Each country will play the other teams in its group twice, once at home and once away.
The top two teams in each group will qualify automatically for Euro 2020. This means 20 of the 24 places will be decided through the normal qualifying groups.
The remaining four places will be decided through playoffs connected to the UEFA Nations League.
The Nations League was divided into four levels — League A, B, C and D. Teams that won their Nations League groups have a chance to enter the playoffs if they fail to qualify through the normal Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Each Nations League level will have its own playoff route, consisting of two semi-finals and a final. The winner of each route will qualify for Euro 2020.
The Nations League group winners include England, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland in League A; Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Sweden and Ukraine in League B; Finland, Norway, Scotland and Serbia in League C; and Belarus, North Macedonia, Georgia and Kosovo in League D.
If a Nations League group winner qualifies directly by finishing in the top two of its Euro qualifying group, its playoff position will be given to another highly ranked team.
England, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland will also compete in the Nations League finals in June, but the results of those matches will not directly affect qualification for Euro 2020.
Euro 2020 qualifying matches will be played between March and November 2019.
The tournament itself will run from June 12 to July 12, 2020 and will be staged across 12 European cities, including London, Rome, Munich, Amsterdam and Saint Petersburg.
