Germany EURO 2020 Preview - History and Expectations

Published on 07 Mar 2020 | Last updated on 01 Jul 2026 | Reading time: 4 minutes

The German national team is always among the favorites for all big tournaments. European Football Championship 2020 does not make any difference. The Bundesteam collapsed at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, they couldn't go out from the group stage and finished last. Now the fans of the team will expect much more. Germany performed very well in the qualifying campaign as usual, but there were plenty of new stars in the squad that gave serious reasons for optimism ahead of Euro 2020.

Check out our preview of Germany at the 2020 European Championships and what to expect from the Bundesteam.

Germany European Championships - History and successes

Germany has won the European Championship three times and also finished as runners-up three times. The Bundesteam has qualified for each European Championship tournament, except for the first Euro Finals in 1968. The team didn't finish in the top eight in only two cases, the 2000 and 2004 tournaments. It is important to say that till 1996 only 8 teams were qualifying for the finals. In the other ten editions in which Germany participated, they reached nine times at least the semifinals, an unmatched record in Europe. In the last two European Championships, Germany was eliminated in the 1/2-finals and in 2008 lost the finals from Spain by 0:1. Germany's last European title was won in 1996 at the finals in England.

The Road to Euro 2020

The German team is ranked first in its qualification group. Joachim Löw's selection made 7 wins and 1 loss in his 8 games, scoring 30 goals, and received 7. Germany finished the qualifiers with a massive 6-1 win over Northern Ireland, before defeating Belarus 4:0. The only defeat of the team was 2:4 at home from the Netherlands.

Euro 2020 fixtures

Germany is in Group F of Euro 2020 with the teams of Portugal, France, and Hungary.

• June 15, 8:00 pm: France - Germany / Allianz Arena, Munich /
• June 19, 5:00 pm: Portugal - Germany / Allianz Arena, Munich /
• June 23, 8:00 pm: Germany - Hungary / Allianz Arena, Munich /

Germany squad for the European Football Championship 2020

Germany has class players in all lines. For the goalkeeper position, Joachim Löw can rely on two top-class players - Manuel Neuer (the captain) and Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The Bundesteam will be defended by the following players: Jonas Hector, Jonathan Tah, Niklas Sule, and Antonio Rudiger. Among these players, Hector has the most games for the national team - 43 and has scored 3 goals. Germany's midfield is very strong - Jogi Löw can count on Toni Kroos, Joshua Kimmich, Ilkay Gundogan, Sebastian Rudy, and Julian Brand. The most productive of these players is Kroos with 17 goals. The attack of the team will be led by the young RB Leipzig Star - Timo Werner, who has already scored 11 goals in 29 games. The other attack options for Germany for Euro 2020 are expected to be Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane, and Luca Waldschmidt. Sane has made his comeback after more than six months out injured, so hopefully, he will be ready for the Euro finals.

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Bernd Leno (Arsenal), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Defenders: Robin Koch (Leeds), Christian Gunter (Freiburg), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach), Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Sule (Bayern Munich), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), Marcel Halstenberg (RB Leipzig), Robin Gosens (Atalanta)
Midfielders: Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), İlkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sané (Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Florian Neuhaus (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
Forwards: Timo Werner (Chelsea), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Kevin Volland (Monaco)

Source: www.tagesspiegel.de

The Big Star: Toni Kroos

Toni Kroos is the biggest star of the Bundesteam. The Real Madrid midfielder has 96 games and 17 goals for the "Mannschaft". He is the leader in the middle of the pitch of Joachim Löw's team. Each ball will pass through Kroos when building the attack. The 30-year-old is also extremely helpful in defense, being able to take the ball and cross passes.

Expectations for Germany at Euro 2020

We expect the German team to get out of their group, although this will be a difficult task given their rivals France and Portugal. However, Germany will have home advantage as their matches will be played in Munich, one of the cities hosting the competition. Germany plays very well at home and will hardly allow an early loss to the tournament. Even more, after making the fiasco on World Cup in Russia, 2 years ago. In our view, the Joachim Löw-led team has the strength to reach at least 1/2-finals of the tournament, but it is unlikely to win it given their performance in the last two major international tournaments.

Odds for Germany

As we already mentioned a couple of times, Germany is in a really hard group. This is our personal view, but maybe the bookmakers don't share the same opinion. They are giving the Bundesteam a very high probability to win the group and go through the 1/8 finals. Germany is also in the top 5 favorites for winning the European title in 2020. Here are the current odds for the "Mannschaft":

To win Euro 2020	8.00
To win Group F	2.25