Ranking UEFA Euro 2024 semifinalists: Spain on top, France and England right behind

We're now close to the conclusion of UEFA Euro 2024 as this week Spain will face France on Tuesday while on Wednesday Netherlands will meet England for the second semifinal before the final that will take place on Sunday, July 14, in Berlin. Despite the last two stages of the competition have yet to be played, we can already imagine some predictions of what might happen in the semifinals and potentially also for the final, considering the tournament we've seen so far. Let's rank the semifinalists and who is the leading candidate for the final victory of the Euros:

4. Netherlands

Nothing against the side coached by Ronald Koeman, but looking at the tournament they played so far, they struggled in the group phase. Only one win against Poland in the opener then drew to France and lost to Austria in the last game. Koeman's team advanced to the round of 16 in third place and faced Romania (won 3-0) and then made an extraordinary comeback against Turkiye in the quarterfinal. However, despite the talented players such as Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo (three goals scored so far), they don't seem to reach the same level of England, at least on paper.

3. France

If you wonder why Didier Deschamps' team is only third in our ranking, you should wait to see who is first. As we consider Spain as the leading candidates for the final win, we also expect them to beat France in the semifinal that will be played on Tuesday. Of course, France are probably the best team in terms of the roster, but they didn't convince so far in the tournament, also due to the performance of star team Kylian Mbappe, who only scored one goal so far (a penalty against Poland) as he was affected by the face injury. Incredibly enough, France are in the semifinals with three scored goals overall, two of which were own goals and one was a penalty. Will it be enough to play another European final? Probably not.

2. England

The Three Lions didn't really impress so far, but they are still one of the best teams of the tournament. After winning only the opening game against Serbia (1-0), they then drew the other two matches of the group stage against Denmark and Slovenia. Gareth Southgate's side knocked out Slovakia in the round of 16 with a late comeback and with a deciding goal scored by Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham before winning in penalties against Switzerland in the quarterfinal. Not an impressive route to the semifinal but probably enough to play their second final in a row after losing the one against Italy in 2021.

1. Spain

La Roja, by far the most impressive side of the tournament. If all the other teams didn't fully convince us, the team coached by Luis de la Fuente definitely showed the best football of the whole competition. Spain won all the three games of the group stage against Croatia, Italy and Albania before beating Georgia 4-1 in the round of 16 and then knocked out the hosts of the tournament, Germany, in the quarterfinal. Despite a controversial referee decision (a clear penalty for Germany), Spain deserve to be in this place after the deciding goal of Mikel Merino in the last minute of extra time against Julian Nagelsmann's team. For the level of the football shown and the talented players of the roster, Spain are our favorites to win it all.