Former Arsenal star Paul Merson has ranked the five teams he believes are most likely to win the Euro 2024 championship.
The Euro 2024 championship will resume in Germany next weekend after a brief hiatus from European club football. Twenty-four teams will compete for the continental title.
Merson has ruled out Belgium and the current champions, Spain, from his top five contenders. “I’m going to omit Belgium and Spain from my top five as I believe the teams that I’ve chosen stand a much better chance of making it through to the business end of Euro 2024,” Merson said, according to Sportskeeda.
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“Belgium’s golden generation is done, and they’ve disappointed me every time in a major tournament. Similarly, this is hardly the best Spain squad we’ve seen in recent years.”
Merson ranked Italy at number five, saying, “Italy are always solid at the back but I doubt that will be enough for them to become a force to be reckoned with in the knockout stages.”
He placed Portugal at number four, noting that while Portugal has an aging team, they also possess a wealth of experience. “There’s too much individual quality for them not to gel together as a unit, so I think they’ll fare quite well at Euro 2024,” he added.
Germany, the host nation, takes the number three spot in Merson’s ranking. “I don’t think Germany are a great team, but being at home is a massive advantage,” he said.
Merson ranks the 2022 World Cup finalists, France, at number two, and places England at the top of his list.