THE SQUAD size for countries competing at Euro 2024 will be back to 23 players – giving Gareth Southgate an even bigger selection headache.
Nations were allowed to take up to 26 players – up from the usual 23 – for Euro 2020 due to the disruptive effect of Covid-19 on squads.
That was then carried on by Fifa for the World Cup in Qatar a year later for the same reason, as well as the fact that it was a mid-season tournament where the injury risk was higher.
But the number will return to 23 for next summer’s Euros in Germany, as per Article 48 of Uefa’s regulations.
Competition for places in Southgate’s squad is tough enough already, with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Ben White and Nick Pope missing out of the latest camp.
The squad size returning to 23 will mean many more players will be sweating on their place for the finals.
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Particularly the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Lewis Dunk, Levi Colwill, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen and Eddie Nketiah, who all featured this month in the matches against Australia and Italy.
Southgate’s main men were in good form to beat the Italians 3-1 at Wembley last night.
The Three Lions came back from a goal down via two Harry Kane strikes sandwiching a Marcus Rashford effort.
After the match, the England boss said: “We need to make sure we are one of the top seeds next month.
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“We need to win our next two games. We want to be in control of that.
“We need to keep building. There is more to come from this team.
“This was the toughest qualifying group, with the seedings.
“People have criticised us for not beating the top teams enough. But we have performed really well.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
