Golden Goals Euro 2024 Matchday 1: Shock draw in France opener?

It’s here. After weeks of build up, anticipation and talk the opening round of Euro 2024 fixtures take place — and we are providing you the chance to win a £2 million jackpot for the occasion.

Defending champions Italy get their campaign underway against Albania. It is a game they should win — but could it be a banana skin?

Defeated Euro 2020 finalists and penalty shootout heartache specialists England face Serbia in their own opener. Can they banish their rotten pre-tournament friendly result against Iceland to a distant memory?

Elsewhere, big-hitters such as Portugal, Spain and Croatia are also in action across our six-game Euro 2024 Golden Goals Matchday 1 fixture list.

Remember, all you have to do is pick six correct scorelines from our selection of games and you could win the jackpot. Go closer than your fellow players and there’s a share of our £5,000 prizepool up for grabs too. Find out more about Golden Goals here.

Let’s take a closer look at those six fixtures…

Spain vs Croatia

Group B. Saturday 15th June (17:00). Olympiastadion, Berlin.

Three-time champions Spain are aiming to become the tournament’s most prolific winners come 14th July — they begin their campaign against 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia in Berlin.

This will be a tough test for both teams and a win is likely vital, especially when Italy and Albania lie in wait respectively. As a section, it is arguably this tournament’s ‘group of death’.

Spain have enjoyed a gentle but fruitful build-up to the tournament, scoring 10 goals in two friendlies (5-0 vs Andorra and 5-1 vs Northern Ireland). In qualifying, a solitary 2-0 defeat to Scotland was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record in Group A. They scored 25 goals — only Portugal (36) and France (29, which includes a 14-0 win over Gibraltar) managed more.

Much of the focus will fall on Spain’s young guns. Barcelona’s 21-year-old Pedri and 16-year-old Lamine Yamal are generating lots of excitement from supporters.

The former has struggled with injury this season but bagged his first international goals with a brace against Northern Ireland while Yamal is precocious almost beyond words.

He is the youngest goalscorer in the history of La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup but the records don’t stop there. Yamal is also the youngest player ever to represent, score and provide an assist for Spain; he will play a real role at this tournament and could even be worth a look in the anytime goalscorer market for this one at 3/1.

Croatia finished behind Turkey in qualifying with losses to Turkey and Wales looking like their participation in this tournament might be under serious threat at one point. But they recovered well and have since enjoyed some encouraging results, not least a 2-1 victory over one of the tournament favourites, Portugal, in a friendly.

With the experience of Luka Modric and the abilities of Manchester City duo Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic in their ranks, Croatia do have some top-level talent.

But it’s difficult to see how they have the tools to guard against a fluid and dangerous Spain side. La Roja will roar out of the blocks here.

Prediction: Spain 3-1 Croatia

Italy vs Albania

Group B. Saturday 15th June (20:00). BVB Stadion, Dortmund.

Italy are trying to become the first nation to win back-to-back European Championships since Spain (2008 and 2012) and begin the defence of their crown against Albania in Dortmund.

On paper, it’s the perfect opener for the Italians with difficult tests in Spain and Croatia still to come but Sylvinho’s side should not be underestimated. They enter the European Championships after the best qualifying performance in their nation’s history – suffering only one defeat and finishing top of a group containing the Czech Republic and Poland.

The Red and Blacks had a modest offensive output in qualifying, scoring the fewest goals of any nation that won their group (12 in 8 matches). Both Jasir Asani and Nedim Bajrami shared the title of top goalscorer for the Albanians in qualifying with three goals apiece. Both found the net in warm-up games against Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan.

Armando Broja’s return should give Albania more attacking impetus but they begin their campaign against arguably the toughest defence in the entire tournament. The Italians built their 2020 success on a solid defensive foundation and it doesn’t look like their mindset has changed, albeit the new man at the helm favours a more intense pressing game than Roberto Mancini.

Indeed, Luciano Spalletti’s men have kept four clean sheets in their previous five international outings and have conceded more than one goal in a European Championship game just once since the opening match of the 2008 tournament.

There are question marks regarding Italy’s attacking integrity – with midfielder Davide Frattesi the Azzurri’s top scorer in qualifying with three – but they will have enough to get past Albania in this one.

Keep an eye on Nicolo Barella, the Inter midfielder was the team’s top assister and chance creator in qualifying, who could have an important part to play throughout the tournament.

Prediction: Italy 2-0 Albania

Poland vs Netherlands

Group D. Sunday 16th June (14:00). Volksparkstadion, Hamburg.

These two have been drawn into an open group alongside France and Austria. With World Cup finalists Les Bleus up next for the Netherlands, three points against Poland to start the competition could be vital for them.

Poland will be no pushovers, though, and have players that on their day are capable of causing any side problems. Talismanic frontman Robert Lewandowski needs no introduction and has added incentive given this is likely his last European Championships with his country.

They have, it must be said, generally disappointed on the big stage. Poland have made it out of the groups just once, in 2016, and given they garnered just three wins in their qualification campaign it is a fair assessment to state they are not at the top of their game right now.

Quarter-finalists at the 2022 World Cup, the Netherlands have enjoyed mixed fortunes in recent years and failed to even qualify for both Euro 2016 and the World Cup in 2018. Qualification was straightforward this time, though, even though the Oranje faced France in that group too.

Their only two defeats came against Les Bleus; that won’t fill the Dutch fans with confidence, particularly thinking back to the 4-0 reverse in Paris.

Ronald Koeman’s men will need their key players to be right at it from the off in Germany, with the likes of Memphis Depay and Cody Gakpo likely to be crucial. The leadership of skipper Virgil van Dijk is going to be required if the Netherlands are to have a long run in this tournament, as questions remain about the mentality of the squad in major tournaments. They look solid defensively with just two goals conceded in their last seven international outings, so they will have enough to get past Poland ahead of that crunch game against old rivals France.

Watch out for Depay, who needs just six goals to edge ahead of Robin van Persie as his country’s record goalscorer.

Prediction: Poland 1-3 Netherlands

Serbia vs England

Group C. Sunday 16th June (20:00). Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen.

Gareth Southgate’s men are the current favourites to win Group C and indeed the entire tournament. Their first challenge on the road to Euro 2024 glory is Serbia – a team they should comfortably overcome.

There will be those who look at the 1-0 loss to Iceland ahead of the competition as an omen but the Three Lions have not lost an opening tie at the European Championships since 2004. Even then, that was a 2-1 defeat to France with two goals from Zinedine Zidane in the 91st and 93rd minute.

England are expected to take the lion’s share of possession during this game and the addition of key players in key positions is likely to cause the sort of onslaught that opens teams up, making them very vulnerable to the likes of Harry Kane and co.

No European player has scored more goals over the previous three major tournaments than the England skipper (12 goals), an impressive stat matched only by France’s Kylian Mbappe.

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The combination of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden, in particular, could be key in unlocking this Serbia defence. Their link-up play in some of the pre-tournament friendlies was worth the price of admission in itself, while they both topped 20 goals in all competitions this term.

Experience in this competition could also play a factor. This is a Serbia team celebrating their first European Championships in 24 years, one of the longest absences of any team competing.

If Serbia’s results at the last major tournament are anything to go by (two losses and one draw in their group) then England will live up to the expectation of millions and move on to the next game with a nation's worth of momentum.

Prediction: Serbia 0-2 England

Austria vs France

Group D. Monday 17th June (20:00). Düsseldorf Arena.

One of the favourites for the tournament, France are looking to get their campaign off to a roaring start with a win over Austria — but this might not be as straightforward as it appears on paper.

Back in 2022, Austria managed to secure a surprise point against France in a Nations League clash, with West Brom’s Andreas Weimann giving the hosts the lead before Kylian Mbappe cancelled out the strike late on.

Ralf Rangnick’s charges have won six of their previous seven matches, including an impressive 2-0 victory over Euro 2020 hosts Germany in November last year and a 6-1 thrashing of Turkey back in March.

France, of course, should still win this regardless.

In Mbappe, they arguably have the world’s best player in their ranks while you can add the likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele in the stardust stakes.

But recent results are a concern. They couldn’t find a way past Canada in the final warm-up friendly before the tournament and have actually just two wins from their previous five (3-0 vs Luxembourg and 3-2 vs Chile).

It’ll be a slow start for Les Bleus.

Prediction: Austria 1-1 France

Portugal vs Czech Republic

Group F. Tuesday 18th June (20:00). Leipzig Stadium.

Roberto Martinez is back in the dugout for a major international competition after presiding over Belgium’s ‘Golden Generation’ – a group which peaked with a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup.

Despite his overall underwhelming time with Belgium, the former Wigan Athletic boss has got a tune out of the Portuguese so far in his tenure.

Portugal were the only nation to achieve a perfect record in Euro 2024 qualifying, winning all 10 games while amassing more goals than any other team (36). That is not a massive surprise considering the litany of attacking talent at Martinez’s disposal.

Rafael Leao, Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos and Diogo Jota could all have a place in the starting lineup, while Cristiano Ronaldo returns for his sixth European Championships appearance. The veteran forward could add to his unmatched legacy at the tournament in which he holds the record amount of games (25), goals (14) and assists (six).

It is worth noting A Selecao also had the most prudent backline during qualifying with only two goals conceded across the 10 matches.

Can the Czech Republic overcome what appears to be one of the most well-balanced teams in the tournament? It will be a difficult task for recently-appointed manager Ivan Hasek, who replaced Jaroslav Silhavy after the Czechs qualified.

Since Hasek’s appointment the team haven’t lost a game, with impressive wins over Norway and Armenia followed by victories over Malta and Macedonia to warm up for the tournament.

The Czechs also have an ace in the hole in the form of Patrik Schick. The double-winning invincible from Bayer Leverkusen was the joint-top scorer at Euro 2020 with five goals – he will be out to produce a similar output in a finely balanced Group F.

They might well score but do the Czechs possess enough to spring an opening-game upset? Not for us. Portugal will get the job done here.

Prediction: Portugal 3-1 Czech Republic

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