Why is Denmark above Slovenia in the group stage of Euro 2024? A unique case in the history

After the third round in Group C at Euro 2024, an extraordinary situation took place. Two national teams had identical scores after three matches and had to determine who would qualify for the play-offs from the second place.

Denmark and Slovenia played to a 1-1 draw in the first round of the Euro. In the next two games, the teams had identical results - 1-1 and 0-0 draws. Thus, both contenders after three rounds had 3 points, 3 draws and a goal difference of 2:2.

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According to the UEFA regulations, first of all, the head-to-head matches are taken into account: the victory of one of the teams or goal difference. Since there is equality on this indicator, we had to go to additional norms.

As a result, the key to determining the team that finished higher was point No. 8, which is usually not often reached. It states that the team with the lower number of disciplinary fair-play points (yellow and red cards) is higher in the table.

Footballers of both teams received 6 yellow cards each during the group stage. However, Slovenia had one more yellow card in the record of the team's technical director Milivoje Novaković for unsporting behaviour in the 70th minute of the first round match against Denmark. This was the key factor in determining second place in the group.

However, Slovenia qualified for the playoffs even from the third place. Its opponent is currently unknown, but we can say that Denmark will face Germany.