Euro 2024, the 17th UEFA European Championship in Germany, starts in just two days. The hosts will face off against Scotland on Friday night, 14 June in Munich. Since our National Team got drawn into Group A with the hosts, they too will be on the pitch early on. They will start their campaign against Switzerland in Cologne on Saturday, 15 June.
This will be the third consecutive European Championship for Hungary, so they are already going into the tournament after achieving an unprecedented feat; and also after an unbeaten qualifying campaign. Hungary’s total unbeaten run lasted an impressive 14 games, from November 2022 to June 2024. It ended in Ireland in a friendly preparation for Euro 2024, as we reported earlier. However,
Hungary have gotten back on the winning track since, beating Israel 3–0 in the last friendly game before the Euros.
The final scoreline was set only 22 minutes into the game, with Freiburg winger/striker Roland Sallai scoring one, and Ferencváros striker Roland Varga, who was the top scorer of the Hungarian league for the second year in a row, scoring two.
So, overall, Hungarian players and fans alike are arriving in Germany with optimism. The general consensus is that we have a reasonable chance of winning against Switzerland, and are even a slight favourite against Scotland. While Germany stand out in the group in terms of the quality of their squad, Hungary went unbeaten against them in the last three games. We tied them 2–2 in the 2021 Euros; and tied them again 1–1, then beat them 1–0 at the 2022 Nations League.
As far as betting odds go, Switzerland are the slight favourite against Hungary, the Germans are the heavy favourites in the next game, and bookmakers regard Hungary as slight favourites over Scotland.
Scotland started their qualification campaign with an impressive run last spring, even beating Spain 2–0 in the process. However, their performance have really fallen since autumn. They won only one game out of their last nine, and that was against a semi-professional Gibraltar side, one of the weakest teams in Europe, at a friendly. Scotland are generally viewed as the weakest one in Hungary’s group A.
Switzerland no doubt have a quality squad, with players coming from some of Europe’s top clubs such as Manchester City, Internazionale, and Bayer Leverkusen. Their main problem is currently up front. Breel Embolo of AS Monaco is the only traditional finisher on their roster, but he has a lingering injury and it is unclear if he will be match-fit by the time of the game against Hungary.
Dominik Szoboszlai, who is about to become the youngest national team captain in the European Championships’ history, was interviewed by the Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport. He told the paper that every player of the Hungarian squad would give a lot of money to have a successful Euro campaign; however, he knows that that is not how it works, you cannot buy success at the tournament.
‘We want to go as far as we can. It may sound like a dumb thing to say, but we have to take every opportunity and exploit everything we are good at, such as outstanding team cohesion and a fighting mentality. Of course, tactics, technique, stamina, and all the rest are also important, but we are really strong as a team…I want everyone—and I’ve said this to the teams as well—to approach the Euros with the idea that we have nothing to lose,’ Szoboszlai told Nemzeti Sport.
Who Are the Favourites to Win Euro 2024?
Overall, England are currently the favourite to win the tournament according to the betting odds. This may be the result of the English, who are famously avid betting men, placing bets just as a sign of support for their team. England have constantly underperformed in major tournaments in the past decades. In the last Euros, they had a golden opportunity to take home the trophy on their sacred home turn at Wembley, but lost against Italy in the final on penalties. They also lost their last friendly 1–0 to Iceland.
The French won the World Cup in 2018, then made it to the final and only lost on penalties against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in 2022 in Qatar. Kylian Mbappé and his crew always have a decent chance of winning any tournament they enter. Spain are the reigning Nations League champion, with a lot of exciting, young talents in their squad, such as midfielder Pedri and winger Lamine Yamal (who is only 16!) from Barcelona, or midfielder Nico Williams from Athletic Bilbao. The Champions League trophy also went to Spain this season, with Real Madrid winning their 15th title. Three Real Madrid players have made coach Luis de la Fuente’s squad.
Cristiano Ronaldo is getting ready for his sixth Euros with Portugal. They won the last but one tournament in 2016. Hosts Germany will have the opportunity to take full advantage of the home turf advantage, and maybe go all the way. Reigning European champions Italy are coming into Euro 2024 after failing to qualify for the World Cup in 2022—however, they managed to win the Euros in 2021 three years ago after failing to make it to the World Cup in 2018.
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