The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament uses a points system to determine which teams progress from the group stages into the thrilling knockout rounds. It’s a simple system that rewards success on the pitch.
The Basics: Win, Draw, or Lose
- Win: A team earns a massive 3 points for every victory.
- Draw: If a match ends in a tie, both teams receive 1 point.
- Loss: A team earns 0 points for a loss.
How Points Shape the Tournament
- Group Stage: Teams are placed into groups, playing every other team within their group. Points earned in these matches decide who moves on.
- Advancing Teams: The top two teams in each group with the most points progress to the knockout stage.
- Knockout Stage: Teams then face off in single-elimination matches – a win means continuing, a loss means going home!
Tiebreakers: What if Teams Have Equal Points?
Sometimes, things get tight! If teams end up with the same number of points, UEFA uses several factors to break the tie:
- Head-to-Head Match: Did the tied teams play each other? The result of that match takes priority.
- Goal Difference: Subtract the goals a team conceded from the goals they scored during the group stage. The higher difference wins.
- Goals Scored: If goal difference is the same, the team with more goals scored ranks higher.
- More Wins: The team who has the most wins in the group stage comes out ahead.
- Fair Play Ranking: Yellow and red cards deduct points. The team with fewer deductions wins.
- UEFA Coefficient Ranking: This is incredibly rare, but a team’s pre-tournament ranking can be the ultimate tiebreaker.
Beyond the Group Stage
These tie-breaking criteria help to ensure a clear ranking of teams from first to last in each group. The top teams according to these standings then advance to the knockout stages of the tournament, which include the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and ultimately the final.
In the knockout stages, matches that end in a draw are typically decided by extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out.