Italy vs Albania live updates: Euro 2024 match team news ...

Few expected Italy to win Euro 2020, and it’s a similar story this time around. At least five nations are favoured to have a better chance of winning the final than them: England, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. But what does history tell us about defending European champions?

The only country to have won back-to-back Euro tournaments is Spain, who did so in 2008 and 2012 either side of winning the World Cup. Italy, on the other hand, failed to qualify for the most recent World Cup.

Two nations have finished as runners-up as defending champions, the Soviet Union in 1968 and West Germany in 1976. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Greece finished in dead last in 2008 after their stunning run to the title in 2004, the only team that lost all of their matches.

Since Spain’s repeat win in 2012, the round of 16 has been the sticking point for defending champions. That’s where Spain’s tournament ended in 2016, and the same is true for Portugal at Euro 2020.

There are currently no continental major tournaments at international level that are made up of more than 24 teams. Copa America has just 16 while the European Championship and the Africa Cup of Nations both have 24.

But there is an argument that the Euros is ready to expand to bring it in line with the World Cup by also being a 32-team tournament.

This year, Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard will miss out as Norway failed to qualify, similarly Alexander Isak with Sweden. There is no place for 2016 semi-finalists Wales or 2004 winners Greece

While they would probably not be contending for the trophy, none of those four teams would look out of place at this year’s tournament and the same can be said for several other European nations.

So, maybe it is time for another expansion and one that would simplify qualification to the knockout stage as, like at the World Cup, the top two teams from every group progress while the bottom two are eliminated.

European football certainly has the breadth of quality to justify it and despite UEFA’s claims, it does feel only a matter of time before that decision is made.

The European Championship has been played every four years since 1960, but the tournament looks much different now to how it did 64 years ago.

In 1960, 17 teams entered the competition but the finals were whittled down to just four teams: France, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.

And for 20 years, that is how it stayed until a decision was made to double the amount of competing teams to eight.

Following triumphs for West Germany (1980), France (1984), Netherlands (1988) and Denmark (1992), the field doubled again to 16.

And with the quality of European football continuing to improve at an exponential rate, the demand for a 24-team tournament grew and was finally passed a few months after the 2008 Championship.

This will be the fourth Euros played with 24 teams and, despite calls to increase to 32 teams, that is how it will stay for the foreseeable future after UEFA confirmed last year that 'no change has been proposed for the UEFA EURO final tournament'.

The 36 group-stage matches will take place across just under two weeks.

There are 12 days between Germany’s curtain raiser against Scotland on Friday, June 14 and the final round of group-stage fixtures on Wednesday, June 26.

So get ready for a lot of football!

The 24 teams have been split into six four-team groups and it is hard to argue against Group B looking like the toughest while Germany, England and Belgium have been handed seemingly favourable draws.

Former Arsenal and Barcelona left-back is the man in the Albania hotseat and he has called on his players not to settle with just qualifying for Euro 2024.

"We've achieved things, we've made it to the EURO: that's some feat," he told UEFA.com. "The overriding feeling is enthusiasm and happiness. People are really happy.

"We've got this far, we know our size, we're improving. It's set to be a real challenge. However, we'll knuckle down to work. The games will be fantastic but hard, and if we're able to overcome our opponents, we want to keep going.

"We're doing well but if we can take another step forward, then even better."

Italy manager Luciano Spalletti was not Italy manager when they won Euro 2020 — that was Roberto Mancini — but he is making sure the standards of the defending champions do not slip.

"It feels like heaven to be in situations like these," he told UEFA.com. "Matches come and go. These tournaments are really important, and this is why we need to be prepared for everything; as we say in our anthem, 'We are ready to die' for these matches.

"In my opinion, coming into the tournament as defending champions is an advantage. But we need to understand straight away that we need to behave like defending champions. We will only see whether or not we are up to the task during the matches.

"In a way, we are facing ourselves, not the outside world. We need to show what we are made of, to show what we have inside."

Welcome to The Radar — the Euro 2024 edition. Each major tournament, we build a scouting guide highlighting the players to watch.

Below, there are 50 players, with at least one representative from each of the 24 nations competing in Germany. We’ve profiled established stars and rising talents, with a bespoke data visualisation for every player, with all our data correct as of Sunday, June 9.

Just click to expand and collapse each card, and you can use the filters to sort players by nation, club or position. They are handily arranged in group order to make it easier for you to get the lowdown on the players who pose an immediate threat to the nation you are supporting this summer.

You can also listen to the corresponding podcast series on The Athletic FC Podcast, profiling 12 of the most exciting young players across both the Euros and Copa America this summer. Click here to listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all the usual places. Enjoy!

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The Radar – The Athletic’s Euro 2024 scouting guide

We saw the hosts Germany and Group A opponents Scotland in action to kick off Euro 2024 last evening and now it is the turn of six other teams to get stuck in.

This is the first of several three-game days and remember, no one is allowed to get on your case for watching all three back to back!

Here is the running order for day two at Euro 2024.

Goalkeepers: Etrit Berisha (Empoli), Thomas Strakosha (Brentford), Elhan Kastrati (AS Cittadella).

Defenders: Berat Djimsiti (Atalanta), Elseid Hysaj (Lazio), Ivan Balliu (Rayo Vallecano), Ardian Ismajli (Empoli), Arlind Ajeti (CFR Cluj), Naser Aliji (Voluntari), Mario Mitaj (Lokomotiv Moscow), Enea Mihaj (Famalicao), Marash Kumbulla (Sassuolo).

Midfielders: Amir Abrashi (Grasshoppers), Kristjan Asllani (Inter), Nedim Bajrami (Sassuolo), Medon Berisha (Lecce), Klaus Gjasula (Darmstadt 98), Qazim Laci (Sparta Prague), Ernest Muci (Besiktas), Ylber Ramadani (Lecce).

Forwards: Jasir Asani (Gwangju FC), Armando Broja (Chelsea), Mirlind Daku (Rubin Kazan), Arber Hoxha (Dinamo Zagreb), Rey Manaj (Sivasspor), Taulant Seferi (Vorskla Poltava).

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham), Alex Meret (Napoli).

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Federico Gatti (Juventus).

Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Jorginho (Arsenal), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas Verona).

Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma).

Capacity: 61,524

Opened: 1974

Viewers of the Bundesliga and Champions League will probably be quite familiar with this place. It is the home of beaten Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and it is one of the great theatres in world football.

The Italians and Albanias are sure to have it rocking later on.

Here are the viewing options for Italy vs Albania:

As it is the final game of the day, kick-off will be at 9pm local time.

That is 8pm BST in the UK and 3pm ET/12pm PT in the US.

Hello and welcome along to The Athletic's live coverage of Italy vs Albania at Euro 2024.

It will be the second game played in Group B as Spain vs Croatia kicks off in five hours' time.

Italy are defending their crown as European champions after beating England on penalties at Wembley in the final of Euro 2020. And they will be looking to get their title defence off to the perfect start against Albania who many are expecting to finish bottom of the so-called 'Group of Death'.

But the Albanians will not fear the tag of underdogs and they could spring a big early shock today.

Stick with us over the next few hours as we build up to the final game of day two here in Germany.