Group B of UEFA Euro 2024 took place from 15 to 24 June 2024.[1] The group contained Spain, Croatia, defending champions Italy, and Albania. Spain, Italy, and Croatia were drawn together in Group C of the UEFA Euro 2012, and just like 2012, Croatia would go out in the group stage while Spain would go on to win the tournament.
Italy and Spain faced each other in a fifth consecutive European Championships.[14] Their most notable clash was Spain's 4–0 victory in the UEFA Euro 2012 final.
With his goal, Croatia's Luka Modrić became the oldest goalscorer in the UEFA European Championship final tournament.[21] However, the draw caused Croatia to finish last among the four best-ranked third-placed teams, eliminating them. This was the first time Croatia had failed to advance to the knockout stage of the Euros since Euro 2012 and in any major international football tournament since the 2014 World Cup.[22]
Fair play points would have been used as a tiebreaker if the head-to-head and overall records of teams had been tied (and if a penalty shoot-out was not applicable as a tiebreaker). These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all group matches as follows:[2]
yellow card = 1 point
red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points
direct red card = 3 points
yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player or team official in a single match.
^While sources initially indicated that Albania manager Sylvinho was shown a yellow card,[19] replays indicated that the card was instead given to his assistant manager Ervin Bulku.[20]
References
^"UEFA Euro 2024 match schedule"(PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
^Hashim, Taha (19 June 2024). "Croatia 2–2 Albania: Euro 2024 – as it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024. 65 min: The ref stops play as Sutalo goes down. There's a yellow shown by the ref to someone in the Croatian backroom staff, Vedran Corluka apparently, for doing something naughty.
^Bailey, Michael; Miller, Nick (24 June 2024). "How Spain maintained their perfect record at Euro 2024 with win over Albania". The Athletic. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024. Waging [sic] the finger – 52' Albania 0–1 Spain: Sylvinho has been booked for some over-enthusiastic protests against a free-kick being given against his Albania side — and he pushes his luck still further by wagging his finger with some gusto at the referee as he is walking off.
^Harty, Colm (director) (24 June 2024). Euro 2024 – Albania v Spain. BBC Two (Television production). Düsseldorf. Event occurs at 1:50:35 (61:56 on game clock). Retrieved 29 June 2024.
