England now favourites for Euro 2024 ahead of France and hosts Germany

All 10 of these Euro 2024 favourites are now assured of a place at the tournament as Croatia claimed their spot on Tuesday night.

Here’s how the 10 favourites are rated, according to the best odds currently available at oddschecker.com…

1) England
Gareth Southgate almost reluctantly signed up for the Euros, for which he kept faith with many of the players who have taken him to quarters, semis and finals in their last three major tournaments.

Before he worried about going to Germany, Southgate had to guide England through a tricky qualifying group. Ballsing up in the Nations League put them in pot 2, leading to England being drawn out with Italy, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta.

The first four games were hurdled with four wins, 15 goals scored and just one conceded. And then they were absolutely sh*t v Ukraine. But an impressive win over Italy at Wembley sealed their place allowing them to go through the motions against Malta. The least said about the North Macedonia game the better, but they still qualified in top spot.

2) France
There have been changes since their World Cup final defeat to Argentina, with Hugo Lloris, Raphael Varane and Karim Benzema all walking away from the international scene, but certainly no French revolution, with Didier Deschamps signing up for three-and-a-half more years in charge of Les Bleus.

They kicked off qualifying with a casual 4-0 win over the Netherlands with seven of the XI who started the World Cup final and continued in that vein, winning seven out of seven until they came a cropper with a 2-2 draw in Greece, which was apparently enough to make them second-favourites behind England despite clearly being the best team in Europe.

3) Germany
Hansi Flick was sacked after a series of unfortunate results but this is a home tournament for Germany so a) they’ll definitely be there and b) they’ll be one of the favourites regardless.

Julian Nagelsmann took charge of his country for the first time during the October break, dragging his players across the Atlantic for friendlies with USA and Mexico. “We want to inspire the whole nation with good football,” said the new boss. “We will play football with an idea but not overcomplicate things. The aim is to play football that will get people excited beyond the results.”

After underperforming for Flick, merely raising Die Mannschaft’s level to the minimum expectation for a talented group would be the first step in the right direction for Nagelsmann. They started with a 3-1 win over USA and a draw v Mexico. Defeats to Turkey and Austria in November suggested that the manager was not the problem.

4) Spain
Spain made a change after the World Cup, with Luis Enrique replaced by Luis de la Fuente after a disappointing exit in Qatar to Morocco on penalties at the round-of-16 stage.

De la Fuente is better placed than anyone to integrate Spain’s prodigious young players, like Gavi, Pedri and Ansu Fati, having coached through the age groups at Under-19, Under-21 and Under-23 levels. But, in his first squad, he also recalled a number of experienced heads, like Kepa, Nacho Fernandez and Iago Aspas, while retaining only 11 of the squad Enrique took to the World Cup.

A 3-0 win over Norway looked promising but losing 2-0 in bloody Scotland of all places was poor. Since then they’ve won the Nations League, which was impressive without a striker worthy of the billing, and battered Georgia, with Lamine Yamal becoming Spain’s youngest ever scorer aged 16. They sealed their Euro 2024 place with a win in Norway.

5) Portugal
Roberto Martinez fell upwards again, this time all the way to Portugal after being bombed out by Belgium.

After replacing European Championships and Nations League winner Fernando Santos, Martinez’s first matches in charge, Group J clashes with Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, brought a serene start for the ex-Everton boss but for Portugal, this is the first time since 2014 that they have played under new management. In coaching terms at least…

Cristiano Ronaldo is still keeping his hand in, despite his move to Saudi Arabia, and Martinez faces a big job in balancing the senior players with the need to evolve and introduce younger talent. He’s making a decent fist of things, with 10 wins out of 10 in a kind-looking qualifying group making for a serene journey to Germany.

READ: Why ‘world-record’ holder Cristiano Ronaldo has actually scored zero proper goals for Portugal

6=) Netherlands
The Oranje like to stick with what they know, with Ronald Koeman back for a second spell in charge, replacing Louis van Gaal after his third stint as coach ended with penalty heartbreak in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Van Gaal passed the Netherlands squad back to Koeman in decent shape. Under the veteran coach, they went 20 matches unbeaten (in normal time) and had a win ratio of 70%.

Koeman can also bank on the increasing influence of young players like Cody Gakpo, Xavi Simons and Matthijs De Ligt, while Sven Botman and Brian Brobbey are ready to step up to the senior side. But losing twice to France left them in need of a win over Republic of Ireland to avoid the hassle of the play-offs. They managed that 1-0 with a goal from Wout Weghorst of all people.

6=) Italy
Given they are the holders and that two of the Champions League’s last four were Serie A clubs, you might think that Italian football is enjoying a resurgence. But they failed to qualify for the World Cup and Roberto Mancini felt England have a better pool of talent.

“We are worse off than Southgate,” he said before the Azzurri were beaten by England. “I don’t know why there are so few strikers, we are very limited going forward. We have three teams in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but out of the three teams, there are seven or eight Italians at most. This is the reality.”

So dismayed was Mancini that he quit and took the Saudi Arabia job instead. Luciano Spalletti was appointed as his replacement, ending one of the shortest sabbaticals ever, after he guided Napoli to the Serie A title last season. His reign began with a draw against North Macedonia, a victory over Ukraine, a cruise v Malta and defeat to England. The Azzurri qualified with a 0-0 draw v Ukraine in their final game.

6=) Belgium
After their disastrous World Cup exit at the group stage, the Red Devils have a new manager with a big broom…

Domenico Tedesco’s first squad had no room for Axel Witsel and Dries Merten, with another member of the Golden Generation, Eden Hazard having stepped away from football altogether. Between the trio, they have 365 international caps. Toby Alderweireld and Simon Mignolet have also retired from national duty.

The 37-year-old coach’s first priority was to restore some harmony following the in-fighting that marred their campaign in Qatar. It’s fair to say he failed. And he will have to do without Kevin De Bruyne until the New Year. Still, they don’t have to worry about their place in Germany – they qualified from Group F alongside Austria.

9=) Denmark
The Danes reached the semi-finals of the last European Championships and they looked to have been given a smooth path to Germany, with Finland, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland, Slovenia and San Marino joining them in Group H.

But after a disappointing World Cup in Qatar which saw them go from 10th to 18th in the FIFA rankings, Kasper Hjulmand’s crew found themselves in a tighter-than-expected group. It didn’t quite go to the wire, with passage secured by beating Slovenia without Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund.

9=) Croatia
In contrast, another positive World Cup – third in Qatar after being runners-up in 2018 – boosted Croatia’s ranking from 12th to seventh. Zlatko Dalic has committed to lead his nation through to the World Cup in 2026 and Luka Modric has vowed to keep going too.

“We have no reason to change much of the team that won the bronze medal at the World Cup a few months ago, so there are 23 players from Qatar on the list,” he said when naming his squad for their first Group games against Wales and Turkey.

Nations League triumph gave them reasons to be cheerful but defeats to Turkey (qualified) and Wales could have been costly. They finally secured the second qualifying place from Group D with a 1-0 win over Armenia.