EUROPEADA 2024: The match schedules are now finalised

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

"It's a big puzzle that needs to be solved. There are many different things to consider, but I think we have now put together attractive schedules in many ways," said Ruwen Möller, project manager of EUROPEADA 2024.

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

"We have made sure that the home minorities, but also the other minorities, who are competing with both a women's and a men's team, do not play at the same time," said Möller. This has been achieved with one exception. "The South Tyrolean women and men will play once in parallel, but there was no other way. In the knockout and placement matches, we can't influence who plays against whom and when anyway."

The organizers have made one deviation from the original idea. Some of the matches will be played parallel to the UEFA EURO matches, which will kick off at 6 pm. "This was also not possible otherwise, or we decided together with FUEN that we would concentrate on our tournament. And it comes entgegen to the venues, the helpers and hopefully also the spectators, that we have chosen partly later kick-off times," Möller begründet the decision.

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

Anyone who gets that far in the men's competition will have already played five matches by then. And the two beaten semi-finalists will each be rewarded with a bronze medal at the end.

The women, who will play one group match less than the men and whose schedule offers more air overall, will play the third-place match.

The first matches of EUROPEADA will start 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 for places 1 to 3 and the official closing ceremony of EUROPEADA 2024.

A few more special features:

The knockout matches quarter-finals and semi-finals will be decided directly on penalties after a draw after 90 minutes.
Only the two finals will be played with extra time.
The men's placement matches will be played with 2 x 30 minutes and will also go directly to a penalty shootout. The exception are the matches for places 5 to 8. As these will be played on one day, they will go over 45 minutes each.
For the women, all placement matches will be played over 45 minutes each. Here, the placement round will be played in a round-robin mode, so there will be no extra time or penalties.
After the preliminary rounds, the quarter-finals and semi-finals (women) will be drawn according to the regulations.
Depending on how far the home teams come, there may be short-term changes of venue, as for example the North Frisians/North Frisians should also play their games in North Friesland if possible, etc.