The year 2024 will bring spectacular football events all around the globe and not only restricted to Europe. Along with them, the four other major federations will host their premier continental competition this year making a packed calendar of football. The Asian Cup in Qatar and the AFCON in Ivory Coast are the two postponed events of 2023 which will take place in the opening month of 2024. Whereas, the Copa America in the USA with both CONMEBOL and CONCACAF teams participating and the European Championship in Germany will roll in June. The Olympics will also be hosted in Paris at the same time.
The title races in club football will be more intense than ever with some surprising faces challenging the regular ones in England, Spain and Germany while Italy sees a duel between two of the most successful clubs in its history. The main focus though lies on the Champions League which will revamp their format by abolishing the age-old group stages and bringing in the Swiss Model from the 2024-25 season. The winners of the present campaign will also seal a place in the expanded FIFA Club World Cup taking place in 2025. The new FIFA Intercontinental Cup competition will also kick off this year.
There is plenty of action in women’s football as well with the first Women’s Nations League champions to be crowned in February. The competition will also serve as qualifiers for the Summer Olympics in Paris which will be a great tournament to watch with senior sides allowed in women’s football tournaments. The tussle for the Women’s Champions League title will be exciting with holders Barcelona aiming for a back-to-back triumph. Over in WSL, Chelsea will be fighting to keep their honour to gift their departing manager Emma Hayes one last taste of the league title. Arsenal and Manchester City will try to spoil the party this time.
Asian Cup 2023 Qatar
The first big tournament to watch in 2024 will be the AFC Asian Cup 2023 shifted to January this year after initial hosts China pulled out due to Covid. Instead, the 18th edition of the competition will be held in Qatar, who are also the holders, for the second time. A total of 24 teams will participate in the Asian Cup with 20 of them reappearing at this stage having competed in the previous edition in 2019. The tournament will kick off on 12 January 2024 and conclude with the final on 10 February 2024.
AFCON 2023
Like in Asia, the premier international competition in Africa in the form of the Africa Cup of Nations or AFCON will also get underway at the same time. The 2023 edition was shifted to January 2024, the traditional period of the tournament, due to extreme weather conditions in the host country Ivory Coast during the summer. The 34th AFCON will have 24 competing teams with a starting date on 13th January 2024. The final of the tournament will take place on February 11, 2024. Senegal are the defending champions having won the Cup for the first time in 2022.
Women’s Nations League 2023/24
The semi-finals, bronze final and final of the inaugural Women’s Nations League will take place in February 2024 to not only the crown first-ever champions but also decide the two European places in the Women’s Football at the Olympics later this year in Paris. Four group winners from League A - Spain, Netherlands, France and Germany will fight to get into the final to book a spot in the Olympics side by side-eyeing the trophy. In case France wins the 2023/24 Nations League, being the hosts of the Olympics, the winners of the third-place match will secure qualification to Paris 2024.
Euro playoffs
The play-offs of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament will decide the last three teams that will join the 20 directly qualified sides in the group stages of the Euro hosted by Germany. A total of 12 sides - Wales, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Georgia, Luxembourg, Poland, Estonia, Israel, Iceland, Greece and Kazakhstan will fight for the places. The teams were divided into three paths with each one containing four teams. Each play-off path will feature two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final. The playoffs will take place towards the end of March 2024.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers
The CAF (Africa), CONMEBOL (South America) and AFC (Asia) qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 will continue in the first FIFA-recognized international break of the year in March 2024. On the other hand, the first set of CONCACAF (North America) qualifying games will take place in the period. Later in September, qualification matches from the OFC or Oceania region will also commence.
Top Four League title race
Club football will also cause a stir in 2024 with some nail-biting finishes expected in the top five leagues in Europe. The 2023/24 season has not been the same with even more than two clubs vying for the title as in the Premier League with Liverpool, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Manchester City involved in a four-horse race although Tottenham have a case to make. There is surprise leaders in the Bundesliga with Xabi Alonso led Bayer Leverkusen threatening Bayern Munich’s dominance in the league. The two biggest rivals in Italy Inter and Juventus are in a captivating title chase in Serie A while La Liga is witnessing a fairytale story being scripted by Girona with usual suspects Real Madrid and Barcelona breathing down their neck.
