Euro 2024 Group A: Germany favourites in tricky pool

Group A will get the ball rolling for Euro 2024 when hosts Germany take on Scotland at the futuristic Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday.

It's a group that the Germans will be favourites to top as they come into a home tournament in more optimistic humour following some encouraging recent results under Julian Nagelsmann, while in-form Hungary - the recent friendly defeat to John O'Shea's Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium aside - a traditionally competitive Switzerland and a Scotland hopeful of recapturing the form from the early phase of qualifying will all hold out realistic hopes of ensuring a place in the knockout stages.

Country: Germany

Manager: Julian Nagelsmann

Captain: Ilkay Gundogan

Player to watch: Florian Wirtz

Best Euros performance: Winners x3 (1972, 1980 and 1996)

Fixtures

Friday, 14 June: Scotland, (Munich), 8pm

Wednesday, 19 June: Hungary, (Stuttgart), 5pm

Sunday, 23 June: Switzerland, (Frankfurt), 8pm

This time last year, optimism was thin on the ground for Germany fans. A group stage exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup was followed by a dire run of four defeats and a draw from their next six friendly matches, culminating on 9 September with a disastrous 4-1 defeat to Japan, the same country that had contributed to their downfall in the Qatari winter 11 months previously.

That was the final straw for the DFB, Germany's football association, which immediately sacked head coach Hansi Flick, who now finds himself in charge of Barcelona.

Germany legend Rudi Voller stepped in as caretaker and then oversaw a morale-boosting 2-1 win over France, before former Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann was parachuted into the role on a permanent basis.

While there have been bumps in the road in terms of