The group stage of the UEFA Euro 2024 has been wrapped. With a new format and more teams, the tournament has gifted football fans ample entertainment for the past two weeks. While few heavyweights disappointed their fans, nations like Romania and Georgia bathed in glory.

Here, for you, are the highlights from the group stage of the UEFA Euro 2024.

Winning at putting people to sleep

Despite a squad oozing with talent from top European domestic leagues, England played football, putting their fans to sleep. Literally, there were fans inside the stadium pictured dozing off. There were comments thrown around on Twitter (now ‘X’) that watching test cricket for 5 days is more entertaining than watching the current England team play football.

However, off the field, there was no dearth of drama. Captain Harry Kane responded sternly when former English footballers turned pundits criticized the team’s way of playing.

“The bottom line is we haven’t won anything as a nation for a long, long time and a lot of these players were part of that as well and they know how tough it is. So it is not digging anyone out. It is just the reality that they do know it is tough to play in these major tournaments, and tough to play for England.” — said the current captain of England

Ralf Rangnick getting his dues

In a group that had France and Netherlands, Austria qualified for the second round by finishing top of the group and is set to play Turkiye in the round of 16. Despite not having their captain, David Alaba, and midfielder, Xaver Schlager, Austria did not seem to have any problems.

The match between Austria and Netherlands turned out to be quite the affair. Austria went ahead twice, and the Netherlands equalized. Austria continued to attack, and midfielder Marcel Sabitzer’s 80th-minute strike finally sealed the deal.

One match, two winners

As the final whistle blew, players and staff from Slovakia’s and Romania’s dugouts ran to the field to celebrate. The match ended in a draw, resulting in both the teams qualifying for the round of 16; Romania, in fact, was the group leader in a group that had the 3rd country in the FIFA ranking, Belgium. Despite knowing that a draw would help both teams qualify for the next round, neither played for a draw, which made the match exciting.

“Some people should apologise to us about what was said before the game. Both teams gave everything for 80 minutes to try to win the game. But people spoke before the game and threw mud at us, they questioned our dignity, it was shameful and it was not nice. They should have waited until after the game to comment but they threw garbage at us. Both teams. We showed he had character and if we were going to lose we would have gone home with our dignity intact.” — commented the coach of Romania, Edward Iordanescu

Kvaradona and Georgia stun all

Georgia’s first match in the tournament against Turkiye was the first of the thrilling matches. Although Georgia ended up losing 3–1, the frequent bursts of attack and fearless play made an impression on all football fans. Yet, however well this display might have been, no one would bet on Georgia defeating Portugal 2–0. That is exactly what happened. In their first appearance at any major football tournament, Georgia stunned the Portuguese.

Georgia’s standout players so far are Kvaratskhelia (who the Napoli fans adoringly refer to as Kvaradona), goalkeeper Mamardashvili who plays for La Liga side Valencia, and forward Georges Mikautadze, who is currently the top scorer of Euro 2024, only trailing behind ‘Own Goal’.

Are football fans the best fans in the world?

Well, seeing the festival that is going on in Germany courtesy of the Scottish (fan group nicknamed ‘Tartan Army’), German-born Turkish, Dutch, Romanians, Albanians, etc., it is difficult not to answer affirmatively to the question.

However, according to The Athletic, four national associations have been fined for the misbehavior of their fans: Albania, Croatia, Scotland, and Serbia.

Allegedly, during the match between Albania and Croatia, both sets of fans chanted, “Kill, kill, kill a Serb”. After the match, Albanian forward Mirlind Daku shouted “f*** Macedonia, f*** Serbia” through a microphone. This sort of behavior from Balkan countries is quite common in international football tournaments.

Round of 16 kicks off on 29th June. While some teams will make you sleepy but still manage to win, others will fight tooth and nail till the last second to secure a victory. It is going to be a tasty affair, no doubt.