Euro 2024 tiebreakers clarified: The surprising decision that resulted in Denmark being ranked higher than Slovenia even though they had the same results.

If you were tuned in to the live group table during the final round of group games in Group C at Euro 2024, you would have witnessed a fascinating turn of events.

Slovenia and Denmark, after drawing 0-0 against England and Serbia respectively, found themselves deadlocked in the group with identical records. Both teams managed to score two goals and concede two goals in their three games, resulting in them both finishing on three points.

Furthermore, the match between Slovenia and Denmark ended in a 1-1 draw, making it impossible to separate the two teams based on head-to-head results. This led to a complete tie on all the tiebreakers that UEFA employs to distinguish teams.

The next step was to consider the disciplinary record, and this is where things got intriguing. Both teams entered the final round with four yellow cards and no red cards, resulting in them being level on four disciplinary points.

However, in the 22nd minute, Erik Janza of Slovenia was booked, ruling him out of the last 16 and putting his team behind Denmark. In a span of just three minutes, Denmark’s Jonas Wind and Morten Hjulmand were also booked, putting Slovenia back in the lead.

But there was yet another twist as Jaka Bijol of Slovenia was booked in the 72nd minute, bringing both teams level at six disciplinary points. So what happens next?

Well, according to UEFA’s rules, the next criteria to consider is the teams’ places in the overall ranking during Euro 2024 qualifying. In simpler terms, UEFA takes all the teams out of their respective groups and ranks them based on their points.

But here’s where it gets even more interesting. Denmark and Slovenia were actually in the same qualifying group. If we look at Group H of Euro 2024 qualifying, we can see that both Denmark and Slovenia finished level in qualifying as well.

So we turn our attention to the games played between the two sides in qualifying. The first game in Ljubljana in June 2023 ended in a draw. So what about the second game?

Finally, we have our answer. In the penultimate game of qualifying on November 17, 2023, in Copenhagen, goals from Joakim Maehle and Thomas Delaney outweighed a goal from our earlier friend Janza. It was those goals in that game that secured Denmark a second-place finish and relegated Slovenia to third.

Does it all make sense now? Go ahead and grab yourself a glass of water, you’ve certainly earned it.