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It looks set to be another bumper year of European football (and futsal) in 2023 – here some picks of the choicest morsels to feast on over the next 12 months.
EURO 2024 qualifying starts (and nearly finishes)
The journey to UEFA EURO 2024 only begins in March, but by the end of the year we will know 21 of the 24 finalists. There is no shortage of enticing fixtures to look forward to from the off, with Italy vs England scheduled for the opening night of qualifying action and France vs Netherlands the following day. The final tournament draw will take place in Hamburg in December, with the last three spots to be confirmed via the play-offs in March 2024.
First Women’s Finalissima
Hot on the heels of the sold-out men’s game between Italy and Argentina last summer, the first Women’s Finalissima will match England with Brazil at Wembley Stadium on April 6. The game is part of the expansion of the cooperation between UEFA and CONMEBOL and will be the first time the champions from the Women’s EURO and Copa América Femenina have met in a formal, scheduled fixture. With memories of Sarina Wiegman’s team’s stunning performances still fresh in the memory, it promises to be quite a night.
June: New Nations League winners to be crowned
Rotterdam and Enschede in the Netherlands will stage the third UEFA Nations League finals in mid-June. The hosts, who dropped just two points en route to the finals, will be joined by fellow League A group winners Croatia, Italy and Spain – this ensures new champions following previous successes for Portugal in 2019 and France in 2021. The draw to determine the semifinal pairings will take place in January.
U21 EURO in Georgia and Romania
Staged in Hungary and Slovenia two years ago, the U21 EURO final tournament will again be hosted jointly in 2023, this time by Georgia and Romania. The tournament runs from June 21 to July 8, starting with a 16-team group stage from which eight nations progress to the quarterfinals. There will be games at four stadiums in Romania (two in Cluj-Napoca, two in Bucharest) and four stadiums in Georgia (one each in Batumi and Kutaisi, and two in Tbilisi). Seven of the 16 finalists – including holders Germany – have lifted the trophy previously.
A new dawn for women’s football
Not even 12 months after England won Women’s EURO on home soil, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup gets under way in Australia and New Zealand. Eleven European teams have already booked their place, with Portugal still hoping to make it a round dozen via the inter-confederation play-offs in February. Will Europe have its first winners since Germany in 2007? Then, in autumn, the UEFA Women’s Nations League kicks into gear as part of the new UEFA women’s national competition system unveiled in November.
EURO host announcements
The appointment of the UEFA EURO 2028 and UEFA EURO 2032 hosts is expected to be made in autumn. Türkiye have submitted a bid dossier for both tournaments, with a joint UK/Republic of Ireland bid also in for 2028 and Italy looking to stage the 2032 edition. Another key UEFA date to look out for is the annual UEFA Congress in Lisbon on April 5.
Busy year in the futsal calendar
The first UEFA final of 2023 will be in Debrecen, Hungary, in March, when the third UEFA Women’s Futsal EURO champions will be crowned; the last showpiece will also be on the futsal pitch, the UEFA Under-19 Futsal EURO decider in Poreč, Croatia, in September. The UEFA Futsal Champions League finals, featuring two debutants in Mallorca Palma Futsal and Sporting Anderlecht Futsal, take place in May, with FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying spread across much of the year.
Regions’ Cup returns
Following the cancellation of the 2020/21 UEFA Regions’ Cup due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 finals will be the first in four years. Bavaria, Belgrade, holders Dolny Śląsk, Galicia, Lisboa, Republic of Ireland Amateur, Zenica-Doboj and Zlín have qualified for the summer finals, with the hosts and venue yet to be confirmed.
