The Euros: Latest News and Updates

Your Home for European Championship Coverage

The UEFA European Championship is the one that fills stadiums, breaks television records and ends summers in either celebration or despair. Every four years, 24 nations spend a month deciding who rules European football. The quarter-finals alone tend to produce more drama than most domestic seasons combined.

This is where you’ll find everything surrounding the Euros — squad news, injury updates, match reaction, qualifying developments and all the build-up to Euro 2028, which comes to the UK and Ireland. If a manager has named his squad, a key player has pulled out injured, or a nation has clinched their place at the finals, you’ll find it covered here.

The most recent tournament was Euro 2024 in Germany, and Spain won it in style. Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner in the Berlin final gave them a 2-1 victory over England, handing Spain a record fourth European Championship title. Lamine Yamal, 17 years old for most of the tournament, played like he’d been doing it for a decade. England, once again, came agonisingly close.

Euro 2028 is next, and it is coming home — or close enough. England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland are co-hosting across nine stadiums, with Wembley staging the semi-finals and the final. Qualifying is under way, with 24 spots to fill across groups running through to 2027. None of the host nations receive automatic qualification, though UEFA has reserved two places for the best-performing hosts who fall short through the standard process.

How the European Championship Works

The Euros began in 1960 as the UEFA European Nations’ Cup, with just four teams contesting the final tournament. The Soviet Union won the first edition in France, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 after extra time. The competition has been held every four years since, sitting in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments.

The format has grown considerably. Eight teams competed from 1980, 16 from 1996, and the current 24-team structure has been in place since Euro 2016. Those 24 nations are split into six groups of four. The top two from each group go through automatically, joined by the four best third-placed teams. From there it’s knockout football: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final.

Qualification runs in the two years before each tournament. All 55 UEFA member associations enter, with group winners and runners-up securing their spots at the finals. The host nations have historically received automatic places, though Euro 2028 is the notable exception to that rule.

Who Has Won It and How Many Times

Ten different nations have lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy across 17 editions. Spain are the most successful side with four titles, and they are the only team to have won back-to-back tournaments, taking the 2008 and 2012 editions either side of their 2010 World Cup triumph. Germany have three titles, France and Italy two each.

The Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Greece, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union have each won it once. Greece’s victory at Euro 2004 in Portugal remains one of the biggest upsets in international football. Otto Rehhagel’s side were rank outsiders, yet they beat the host nation in both the opening game and the final. Denmark’s triumph in 1992 was similarly unexpected — they only entered the tournament as a late replacement for Yugoslavia and proceeded to beat Germany in the final.

Spain’s current squad, led by players from the Euro 2024-winning generation, will go to Euro 2028 as the team everyone else is trying to stop. No nation has retained the title in the tournament’s 64-year history. Spain’s own golden generation tried and failed after winning in 2012, getting knocked out in the group stage in 2016. History is not kind to defending champions.

Euro 2028: What We Know So Far

The UK and Ireland won the hosting rights unopposed after Turkey withdrew their bid to focus on co-hosting Euro 2032 with Italy. Nine stadiums across England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland will stage 51 matches over a month in the summer of 2028, with the tournament running from 9 June to 9 July.

Six English venues are confirmed, including Wembley for the semi-finals and final. Scotland’s Hampden Park, one stadium in Wales and one in the Republic of Ireland complete the list. Northern Ireland lost their host status after the government withdrew funding for the redevelopment of Casement Park in Belfast.

Qualifying began in 2026 and follows a group-based format, with 12 groups producing automatic qualifiers from the group winners and runners-up. The nations who finish outside those positions will enter a play-off stage for the remaining spots. It is the most competitive road to a home tournament any of the four host nations have faced.