Your boss is less likely to catch you watching football at your desk on Tuesday because there isn't a Euro 2024 game scheduled for 2pm GMT . Fans have quickly got used to being able to catch three fixtures a day during the opening of the tournament in Germany, with early games taking place on Saturday (Hungary vs Switzerland), Sunday ( Slovenia vs Denmark ) and Monday (Romania vs Ukraine ). But Tuesday will only have two fixtures from the group stages played, as the matches between Turkey and Georgia and Portugal and the Czech Republic kick off at 5pm GMT and 8pm GMT respectively.
Fear not though, because the schedule will soon go back to three games a day for the matches on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Then from Sunday we get to the final group stage matches which have to be played simultaneously for reasons of fair play. Both Group A matches are played on Sunday night, both of Group B's are on Monday, and then Groups C and D are next Tuesday and E and F are next Wednesday.
But why only two games this Tuesday then? Well the fact is, this is nothing new. Each of the last two Euros have only had two matches on the first Tuesday of the tournament. At Euro 2020 Portugal beat Hungary 3-0 in Budapest, and France beat Germany 1-0 in Munich.
Then back at Euro 2016, the first Tuesday saw Hungary beat Austria 2-0 in Bordeaux, while eventual winners Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland in Saint-Etienne. Back at Euro 2012 though, two games a day was the norm. The tou.
