The football world is preparing for the start of this summer’s main tournament. On 14 June, the European Championship will begin in Germany. The opening match will traditionally be played by the hosts. The Germans will host Scotland at the home stadium of Bayern Munich. We have already prepared an article about the cities and arenas of Euro 2024. Now it’s time to tell you about the main favourites of the upcoming championship. Having studied the data of bookmaker companies, we will determine the top 5 national teams that have the best chances to win the trophy this year.
Interesting fact: before the start of the 2022 Mundial, the Argentine national team shared 4-5 places with the Spanish in the list of main favourites. On the victory of Leo Messi and his comrades was possible with odds of 9.00. Analysts considered the Brazilians the main contender for the title. As we know, the champions eventually became the Argentines. And Brazil stopped at the quarter-final stage. Bookmakers’ predictions do not always come true, so for now we will just fix the five favourites. And then, after the Euros are over, we will return to this ranking and analyse it, knowing the name of the champion and the results of all the other national teams.
England national team. Odds of victory – 4.50
It is England that looks to be the toughest, most skilful, skilful, well-played and top-class team among all the Euro participants. That’s according to the experts, who are paying money for their predictions. The English haven’t won an international tournament in a long time. Their only and last success happened almost 60 years ago – at the 1966 World Cup. Now is the perfect moment for this team to win the European Championship for the first time. Barring injury, the tournament will feature one of the best strikers in the world, Harry Kane (this player is hungry for victories like no other), the new leader of Real Madrid and La Liga’s top scorer Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden – the most talented footballer in Pep Guardiola’s coaching career (the Spaniard himself recognised this). Then there are the magnificent Marcus Rashford, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Bukayo Saka….. And many other illustrious masters.
France national team. Odds of victory – 5.00
While the English have long forgotten the taste of big victories, the French, on the contrary, are spoilt by the abundance of trophies won in recent history. World champions in 1998 and 2018, winners of Euro 1984 and 2000, triumphants of the Nations League-2021. And also – multiple silver and bronze medallists of major tournaments. The main star of the national team is, of course, Kylian Mbappe. It is not yet known in what status the forward will go to the tournament – a free agent, a player of Real Madrid or PSG. Or maybe… “Liverpool? In addition to the reactive striker, the French have other bright players – Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Mouani, Jules Kunde, Theo Hernandez…. the list goes on and on.
Germany national team. Odds for victory – 7.00
The hosts are also among the top 3 main favourites for the Euros. The Germans did not participate in the qualifying tournament and played only friendly games. It was not very successful – in 2023 the team played 11 matches, won only three times and lost 6 times. A series of failures led to the resignation of Hans-Dieter Flick. He became the first coach in the history of the Bundestim, fired from his post. Before that, for a hundred years, Flick’s colleagues left the national team themselves. Julian Nagelsmann will take the Germans to the Euros. Germany have won two games out of two this year – victories over France and the Netherlands are definitely something to be proud of. The Germans have enough status players – Neuer, ter Stegen, Kimmich, Rüdiger, Gündogan, Kroos, Wirz, Muller, Havertz…. These guys can achieve a lot at their home European Championships.
Spain national team. Odds of victory – 8.50
Well, what ranking of favourites is complete without the Spanish national team? In the late noughties and early 2010s, this national team crushed opponents and won all the tournaments in which it participated. The current generation of Spanish footballers is less successful, but surely just as ambitious. European Championship, in all likelihood, will miss Gavi – one of the leaders of Barcelona is recovering from injury. But Spain have perhaps the most talented winger on the planet, Lamine Yamal. He is only 16 years old, and he is already soloing in Barça, breaking all sorts of records and preparing to become the opener of Euro-2024.
Portugal national team. Odds of victory – 10
Will Cristiano Ronaldo win another trophy with the national team? At 39, the Portuguese is in cosmic form, scoring the most goals in the Saudi Arabian league and preparing to take part in his sixth (!) European Championship. The national team of this country had no problems reaching the final stage – in the qualifying cycle they won 10 matches. Ronaldo scored 10 goals and became the second in the list of the best snipers of the qualifying tournament. Cristiano was surpassed only by Romelu Lukaku.
