Euro 2024 third-place qualification: How many points needed to qualify for Round of 16?

Third-place qualification at Euro 2024 could become confusing in the final round of matches.

By Michael Potts

Published: Thursday, 20 June 2024 at 11:36 AM

Whether you agreed with the format changes or not, it’s hard to deny the benefactors of an expanded Euro 2024 tournament have added value to the blossoming competition.

UEFA increased the number of teams from 16 to 24 ahead of Euro 2016, meaning the number of games leapt up from 31 to 51, and this format has been deployed at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.

The lowest-ranked teams such as Georgia, Albania and Romania have all put on a spectacle and justified the expansion, though the expansion does come with a side order of complexity.

In order to accommodate the additional teams, Euro groups will feed into a Round of 16, rather than direct to the quarter-finals, and that means four of the third-place teams will progress.

Teams who finish in third place will not know whether they have qualified for the tournament until days later when more groups wrap up – but there is a rough estimate we can use to predict the cut-off point.

RadioTimes.com brings you the estimated number of points required to qualify for the Round of 16 at Euro 2024.

How many points do you need to qualify for the Euro 2024 Round of 16?

Based on Euro 2016 and Euro 2020, it is expected that four points is enough to guarantee a place in the Round of 16 via second or third place in any given group.

The third-place teams are effectively added to their own mini-league, determined by points, with tiebreakers descending from goal difference, goals scored, wins, disciplinary record to Euro 2024 qualification overall ranking.

How many points were needed to qualify in third at Euro 2016?

Portugal infamously failed to win any of their group-stage games, drew three in a row and still qualified for the Round of 16 as the third-best third-place team. They went on to win Euro 2016.

Slovakia and Republic of Ireland went through with four points each, while Northern Ireland scraped through with three points and a neutral goal difference. Turkey and Albania finished on three points each with -2 GD and were eliminated.

How many points were needed to qualify in third at Euro 2020?

Portugal, Czech Republic and Switzerland each finished on four points at Euro 2020, finished third in their respective groups and qualified.

Ukraine were the fourth third-place team to progress and accomplished the feat with just three points (one win and two defeats) to their name. They advanced by virtue of goal difference over Finland and Slovakia.

Therefore, it is possible to go through with three points and a solid goal difference, but a four-point haul appears extremely likely to be enough.

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