In less than three months the game between Germany and Scotland will take place on June 14th European Football Championship kicked off. Austria’s national team seems to be ready for the finals after the first test matches in 2024. But what about the ÖFB team’s three opponents in the preliminary round? And are there any tickets left?if you want to go to the games in Germany? This is what Austria’s fans need to know.
At the start of the final round, the ÖFB team will face the big tournament favorites. France is ranked at the top by the bookmakers when it comes to who will receive the European Championship trophy on July 14th after the final in Berlin. According to the French media, the Grande Nation has a “lesson” about star strikers Kylian Mbappé but only received it at the weekend in the 0-2 defeat against Germany. At least the final result against Chile was correct on Tuesday evening (3:2).
That’s all it was about on Tuesday Poland. The selection around Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski secured one of the last three European Championship tickets after a penalty shootout in Wales. By taking part, they limited the damage after having to give way to the surprise team of Albania and the Czech Republic in the qualifying group. The Poles’ record against Austria is still positive (five wins, two draws, three defeats). Above all, the ÖFB selection has been winless for five games.
There is still no trace of EM euphoria among Austria’s last group opponents. The Netherlands are struggling with themselves and team boss Ronald Koeman after the 1-2 defeat in Germany, in which the European Championship hosts performed dominantly. “The difference between the games in neighboring countries was about as big as the difference between life and death,” said the newspaper De Volkskrant. And De Telegraaf demanded: “Ronald Koeman will have to do a lot of tinkering in the coming weeks to form a European Championship team that can at least travel to Germany as outsiders for the European Championship title.”
The group winners and runners-up as well as the four best third-placed teams from the six preliminary round groups qualify for the round of 16. If you advance in third place, you will definitely face a group winner in the round of 16. But if Austria makes it to second place, the second place from Group E with Belgium, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine awaits in the first knockout round.
One might think that with 24 starters, almost every nation in Europe that has a second set of dresses is there. Not quite. Sweden is missing, as are Norway, Bulgaria and Greece. The 2004 European champions failed in the play-offs and enabled Georgia to take part in the European Championship for the first time. The Georgians are the only debutants. Ukraine also made it through the play-offs. The war-torn country has become accustomed to away games. Association head Shevchenko paid tribute to the players: “You have given our people a little piece of happiness.”
Most of the approximately 2.7 million tickets are already sold out. Another major sales phase is no longer planned. The basically personalized tickets can be resold via a UEFA resale platform. Consumer advocates advise against purchasing through unofficial sales channels.