This Euro 2024 Group C match between England and Slovenia will take place on Tuesday 25th June 2024 at 8pm (BST).
The game will take place at the RheinEnergieStadion (Cologne Stadium) in Cologne, the home of FC Koln which has a capacity of 43,000. This stadium notably hosted the 2020 UEFA Europa League final.
Match Preview & Prediction
England head to the Euro 2024 Championships in Germany after an unbeaten campaign in the group stage, the Three Lions shared a group with Italy, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta, despite being favourites to qualify, doing so without losing a game is always a good confidence boost when heading into a major tournament.
Gareth Southgate’s side were losing finalists at Wembley three years ago (delayed Euro 2020 tournament), beaten on home soil to Italy on penalties, it was a frustrating end given many England fans thought this should have been their time, so close to a trophy for the first time since their 1966 World Cup win, will this England team finally give their supporters some glory?
Outright Winner - England
The Three Lions head to Germany as one of the favourites to win the lot, I’m expecting them to get out of this group without any problems, leaving the remaining three, including Slovenia, to battle it out for the second automatic place into the round of 16.
Therefore, I think we’ll see England get the win here, I think Slovenia will find it difficult to get out of Group C, they’ll be hoping to still have a fighting chance by the time this fixture comes around.
Slovenia head into this Euro 2024 competition after finishing runners-up in their qualifying group, they were actually second to Denmark, who are also in this group, despite finishing on the same number of points, the Danes topped the group on head-to-head points, after beating Slovenia 2-1 in November 2023.
Matjaz Kek’s side will take confidence from their qualifying campaign, this is just the second time that Slovenia have qualified for a European major tournament, the last time they were involved was at Euro 2000, they failed to get out of the group that year after only managing two draws from their three games, it wasn’t enough 24 years ago but they’ll be hoping to get at least one victory in this group stage.
Slovenia vs England History
These two sides have only ever met six times over the years, the first game occurred in 2009, whilst a more recent game in October 2016 was actually Gareth Southgate’s second game in charge of the Three Lions, the game ended 0-0.
Since then, Southgate’s side have beaten Slovenia and England have dominated the head-to-head stats overall, they’ve beaten Slovenia in five of their six meetings, it’ll be a big ask here for Slovenia to get their first ever victory over England.
England v Slovenia Betting Odds
The sports betting odds have England as the favourites to get the victory here and most people would say rightly so.
To Reach Final - England
Slovenia will just be hoping to still be in with a shot getting themselves out of the group and into the round of 16 by the time these two meet in Germany.
England Squad Euro 2024
Goalkeepers:
Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal) and Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace).
Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), John Stones (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool) and Ben Chilwell (Chelsea)
Midfielders:
Declan Rice (Arsenal), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Jordan Henderson (Ajax), Connor Gallagher (Chelsea), James Maddison (Tottenham), and Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid).
Forwards:
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) Jack Grealish (Manchester City) and Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
Slovenia Squad Euro 2024
Goalkeepers:
Jan Oblak (Atletio Madrid), Vid Belec (APOEL) and Igor Vekic (Vejle).
Defenders:
Zan Karnicnik (Celje), Jure Balkovec (Alanyaspor), Miha Blazic (Lech Poznan), Jaka Bijol (Udinese), Erik Janza (Gornik Zabrze), Petar Stojanovic (Sampdoria), Vanja Drkusic (Sochi) and David Brekalo (Orlando City SC).
Midfielders:
Jon Gorenc Stankovic (Sturm Graz), Benjamin Verbic (Panathinaikos), Sandi Lovric (Udinese), Timi Max Elsnik (Olimpija Ljubljana), Jasmin Kurtic (Sudtirol), Tomi Horvat (Sturm Graz) and Adam Gnezda Cerin (Panathinaikos).
Forwards:
Andraz Sporar (Panathinaikos), Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig), Zan Celar (Lugano), Jan Mlakar (Pisa), Zan Vipotnik (Bordeaux) and Nino Zugelj (Bodo/Glimt).
England and Slovenia Euro 2024 Predictions
Here are my Euro 2024 predictions for these two nations.
England – They should top this group, they’ll then play the third-placed team from either Group D, E or F, in which they should be victorious.
We could see a repeat of the Euro 2020 final in the quarter-finals and it’s likely England could meet France in the semi-finals, the winner of that will win the competition in my opinion. In terms of the Euro 2024 odds, the Three Lions are currently 11/8 to reach the final.
Slovenia – I personally think this will be a tough campaign for Slovenia, there could be a slight chance for them to make it out of the group via the best third-place route but with Denmark and Serbia also battling it out for the top three places, it’ll be tough.
Slovenia have done brilliantly to make it to this competition but I think they’ll finish at the bottom of Group C.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
