Belgium will have aspirations of bettering their quarter-final appearances of the last two European Championships when they get their Euro 2024 campaign underway in Group E.
Boasting a depth of top-quality talent, the Red Devils will be the strong favourites to progress from the group, but they will have to navigate their way past Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine, who will all fancy their chances of picking up enough points to advance to the knockout rounds.
Here, Sports Mole provides a detailed overview of Group E, including standings, fixtures and predictions about how the four nations will fare.
EURO 2024 GROUP E STANDINGS
EURO 2024 GROUP E FIXTURES
June 17: Romania 3-0 Ukraine (2pm | Allianz Arena, Munich)
June 17: Belgium 0-1 Slovakia (5pm | Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt)
June 21: Slovakia 1-2 Ukraine (2pm | Merkur Spiel-Arena, Dusseldorf)
June 22: Belgium 2-0 Romania (8pm | RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne)
June 26: Slovakia 1-1 Romania (5pm | Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt)
June 26: Ukraine 0-0 Belgium (5pm | MHPArena, Stuttgart)
All kickoff times BST
TEAMS
BELGIUM
Previous Euros: 6*, most recently Euro 2020
Best result: Runners-up (1980)
Euro 2020: Quarter-finals
Qualification: Group F winners
Manager: Domenico Tedesco
FORM
- D
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Koen Casteels (Wolfsburg), Thomas Kaminski (Luton Town), Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)
Defenders: Timothy Castagne (Fulham), Maxim De Cuyper (Club Brugge), Zeno Debast (Anderlecht), Wout Faes (Leicester City), Thomas Meunier (Trabzonspor), Jan Vertonghen (Anderlecht), Arthur Theate (Rennes), Axel Witsel (Atletico Madrid)
Midfielders: Yannick Carrasco (Al Shabab), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Orel Mangala (Lyon), Amadou Onana (Everton), Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa), Arthur Vermeeren (Atletico Madrid), Aster Vranckx (Wolfsburg)
Attackers: Johan Bakayoko (PSV Eindhoven), Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta BC), Jeremy Doku (Manchester City), Romelu Lukaku (Roma), Dodi Lukebakio (Sevilla), Lois Openda (RB Leipzig), Leandro Trossard (Arsenal)
SLOVAKIA
Previous Euros: Five*, most recently Euro 2020
Best result: Winners (1976*)
Euro 2020: Group stage
Qualification: Group J runners-up
Manager: Francesco Calzona
* = including as Czechoslovakia
FORM
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Martin Dubravka (Newcastle United), Marek Rodak (Fulham), Henrich Ravas (New England Revolution)
Defenders: Peter Pekarik (Hertha Berlin), Milan Skriniar (Paris Saint-Germain), Norbert Gyomber (Salernitana), David Hancko (Feyenoord), Adam Obert (Cagliari), Denis Vavro (Copenhagen), Vernon De Marco (Hatta), Sebastian Kosa (Spartak Trnava)
Midfielders: Stanislav Lobotka (Napoli), Juraj Kucka (Slovan Bratislava), Ondrej Duda (Hellas Verona), Patrik Hrosovsky (Genk), Matus Bero (Bochum), Laszlo Benes (Hamburger SV), Tomas Rigo (Banik Ostrava)
Attackers: Robert Bozenik (Boavista), Lukas Haraslin (Sparta Prague), Ivan Schranz (Slavia Prague), David Strelec (Slovan Bratislava), Tomas Suslov (Hellas Verona), David Duris (Ascoli), Lubomir Tupta (Slovan Liberec), Leo Sauer (Feyenoord)
ROMANIA
Previous Euros: Five, most recently Euro 2016
Best result: Quarter-finals (2000)
Euro 2020: Did not qualify
Qualification: Group I winners
Manager: Edward Iordanescu
FORM
- L
- D
- D
- W
- L
- D
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Florin Nita (Gaziantep), Horatiu Moldovan (Atletico Madrid), Stefan Tarnovanu (FCSB), Razvan Sava (CFR Cluj)
Defenders: Nicusor Bancu (Universitatea Craiova), Andrei Burca (Al Okhdood), Ionut Nedelcearu (Palermo), Adrian Rus (Pisa), Andrei Ratiu (Rayo Vallecano), Radu Dragusin (Tottenham Hotspur), Vasile Mogos (CFR Cluj), Bogdan Racovitan (Rakow Czestochowa)
Midfielders: Nicolae Stanciu (Damac), Razvan Marin (Cagliari), Alexandru Cicaldau (Konyaspor), Ianis Hagi (Rangers), Dennis Man (Parma), Valentin Mihaila (Parma), Marius Marin (Pisa), Darius Olaru (FCSB), Deian Sorescu (Gaziantep), Florinel Coman (FCSB), Adrian Sut (FCSB), Constantin Grameni (Farul Constanta)
Attackers: George Puscas (Genoa), Denis Alibec (Muaither), Denis Dragus (Standard Liege), Daniel Birligea (CFR Cluj)
UKRAINE
Previous Euros: Three, most recently Euro 2020
Best result: Quarter-finals (2020)
Euro 2020: Quarter-finals
Qualification: Playoff Path B winners
Manager: Serhiy Rebrov
FORM
- D
- L
- W
- L
- W
- D
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Heorhiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kyiv), Anatoliy Trubin (Benfica), Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid)
Defenders: Mykola Matviyenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton), Illya Zabarnyi (Bournemouth), Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kyiv), Yukhym Konoplya (Shakhtar Donetsk), Bohdan Mykhaylichenko (Polissya Zhytomyr), Valeriy Bondar (Shakhtar Donetsk), Maksym Talovyerov (LASK), Oleksandr Svatok (Dnipro-1)
Midfielders: Serhiy Sydorchuk (Westerlo), Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Genoa), Viktor Tsyhankov (Girona), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleksandr Zubkov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Mykhailo Mudryk (Chelsea), Heorhiy Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Volodymyr Brazhko (Dynamo Kyiv)
Attackers: Roman Yaremchuk (Valencia), Artem Dovbyk (Girona), Vladyslav Vanat (Dynamo Kyiv)
EURO 2024 GROUP E PREDICTION
On paper, Belgium appear to have the strongest squad in the group, making them the obvious favourites to finish in pole position and advance to the knockout rounds in a third consecutive European Championships.
Behind the Red Devils is where the battle heats up, with Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine all set to fight it out for second position and one of the four best third-place spots.
Ukraine may have been forced to come through the qualifying playoffs, but their squad boast some impressive talent in Lunin, Zabarnyi, Tsyhankov, Mudryk and Dovbyk, which could give them the edge over their competitors.
Romania have won only one of their 16 matches in European Championship history, and we think that they could experience another difficult tournament, opening the door for Slovakia to edge them out for third position.
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