Romania, Ukraine, Belgium and Slovakia enter the fray, while France make their highly anticipated bow against Austria.
Group E commences on Monday, with Romania taking on Ukraine first up before Belgium begin their campaign against Slovakia. The final game of the evening is the second match in Group D, when France face an Austria side who need to defy their recent record against one of the tournament favourites. We preview the action in Munich, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf.
Romania vs Ukraine (Group E, Munich)
This game pits together two teams desperate to improve their records at EURO finals by recording a rare victory. Across their 16 matches played in this championship, Romania have managed just a single win (D5 L10), while Ukraine have lost eight of their 11 EURO contests as they head to Germany.
Forging a team ethic to make these sides greater than the sum of their parts is key for both, as Valentin Mihăilă – vying to start up front in place of the injured Denis Alibec – agreed when assessing Romania’s opponents: “I’ve watched a lot of their games and we’ve analysed all their players. I don’t want to start talking about individual players, but they qualified for the same reasons we did: they were a cohesive group.”
Key stat: This is the first-ever competitive meeting of these nations – the previous six were all friendlies. Romania won the first three, with Ukraine unbeaten in the last three (W2 D1).
Belgium vs Slovakia (Group E, Frankfurt)
Slovakia face a stiff test against one of the tournament thoroughbreds, and goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka – who could be a busy man if Belgium hit the ground running – has heaped praise on Kevin De Bruyne in the lead-up to this game. “He is a genius,” he said. “You never know what he will do. For me, definitely one of the best players in the world. He sees football from a different perspective. He can conjure up a pass that no one else sees. Few footballers have as much quality as him.”
Belgium are now unbeaten in 40 qualifying matches for EUROs and FIFA World Cups but are still looking to take the final steps when it comes to the sharp end of tournaments, having failed to reach the semi-finals at a UEFA European Championship since 1980 and exited in the quarter-finals at the last two editions.
Key stat: None of Belgium’s last 17 EURO fixtures have ended in a draw (W9 L8), a run which started in the 1980 final (a 2-1 loss to West Germany).
Austria vs France (Group D, Düsseldorf)
Les Bleus are probably not the opponents Austria would have picked to face in their group opener. Not only is Didier Deschamps blessed with talent in all areas of his squad, but France have lost just one of their last ten matches in all competitions against Austria (W7 D2) – 3-1 in Vienna in September 2008.
“France might be the toughest team we could have faced in our opening game,” said midfielder Christoph Baumgartner. “But I believe that if we get off to a good start, if we do what we’ve been doing over the last few weeks and months, then anything is possible in this match. But, of course, we have to play at the top of our game – there’s no question about that – if we want to have a real chance of competing.”
Key stat: Kylian Mbappé’s 12 goals for France at major tournaments have all come at the World Cup. In his only previous EURO, in 2021, he failed to convert any of his 14 shots and missed his penalty in the shoot-out against round of 16 opponents Switzerland.