EUROPEADA 2024: The game schedules are now available

Just over four months to go until the ball finally rolls at EUROPEADA 2024. After the groups were drawn on December 10, 2023, the match schedules have now also been finalized.

"It's a big puzzle that has to fit together. There are many different things to be considered, but I think we have now put together an attractive schedule in many respects," said Ruwen Möller, Project Manager of EUROPEADA 2024.

The record number of 36 teams (9 women's teams and 27 men's teams) had to be distributed across 14 venues (4 in Denmark and 10 in Germany). A total of 89 matches will be played over 7 days. All of these will be broadcast via livestream.

"We have made sure that the local minorities, as well as the other minorities with both a men's and women's team, do not play at the same time," says Möller. With one exception, this was successful. "The South Tyrolean women and men will play in parallel once, but it was not possible otherwise. In the knockout and placement matches, we can no longer influence who meets whom and when anyway."

The organizers have made one change to the original idea. Some of the matches will be played at the same time as the UEFA EURO matches, which start at 6 pm. "This was also not possible otherwise and we decided together with FUEN to concentrate on our tournament. And it is good for the venues, the helpers and hopefully also the spectators that we have chosen later kick-off times in some cases," said Möller, explaining the decision.

The match for third place in the men's competition has also been cancelled. This decision was also made jointly by FUEN and the local organizing committee. Möller explains: "The men's semi-finals will take place on Friday (July 5) at 5 pm. We would have had to schedule a possible match for third place on Saturday morning because it would have had to take place before the finals. Because of the extremely short regeneration time the risk of injury for the players seemed too great. In addition, the teams at the last EUROPEADA, where there was no small final, showed little interest in this game after an exhausting week."

Whoever gets this far in the men's competition will have already played five games by then anyway. And the two beaten semi-finalists will each be rewarded with a bronze medal at the end.

In the women's competition, where all teams play one less group match than the men and the schedule offers more space overall, the match for third place will be played.

The first EUROPEADA matches will be played on Sunday, June 30 at 11 am and 2 pm.

The finals will take place on Saturday, July 6. The women's final will kick off at 11 am and the men's final at 2 pm. This will be followed by a joint award ceremony for the women and men in places 1 to 3 and the official closing ceremony for EUROPEADA 2024.

A few more special features:

• The quarter-final and semi-final knockout matches will be decided directly in a penalty shoot-out in the event of a draw after 90 minutes.
• Only the two finals will be played with extra time.
• The men's placement matches are played over 2 x 30 minutes and go straight to a penalty shoot-out. The matches for places 5 to 8 are an exception, as they are played on one day and last 45 minutes each.
• In the women's competition, all placement matches are played over 45 minutes. Here, the placement round is played in an each-against-each mode, meaning that extra time and penalty shoot-outs are not required.
• After the preliminary rounds, the quarter-finals and semi-finals (women) are drawn according to the rules.
• Depending on how far the home teams progress, there may be short-term swaps of places, as, for example, the North Frisians should also play their matches in North Frisland if possible, etc.

An overview of the matches can be found in the appendix. The schedules can also be viewed on the website www.europeada.eu 

FUEN and EUROPEADA gGmbH are always available to answer your questions.

There will be a detailed briefing on the mode for both the teams and the press before EUROPEADA. This is also set out in the regulations (see website).

Photo: Martin Ziemer