England to face Slovakia in first knockout stage at Euro 2024

Slovakia are the third-placed team awaiting England in the last 16.

Gareth Southgate will prepare his England team to take on Slovakia (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

England will play Slovakia in the Euro 2024 last 16 on Sunday.

Gareth Southgate’s side topped Group C despite recording underwhelming draws against Denmark and Slovenia after winning their opener against Serbia.

That 1-0 triumph came in Gelsenkirchen, where the Euro 2020 runners-up will return this weekend to take on Francesco Calzona’s side.

Slovakia finished among the four best third-placed sides and were confirmed as England’s opponents upon the conclusion of the group stage on Wednesday night.

Ondrej Duda’s equaliser against Romania clinched Slovakia’s progression (Arne Dedert/AP) (AP)

Calzona’s team finished on four points in Group E, where a 1-0 win against Belgium and 2-1 defeat to Ukraine was followed by Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Romania.

Slovakia are 45th in the FIFA world rankings – 40 spots below England.

England won 2-1 at Wembley in the last meeting between the sides in September 2017 during qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

The reverse fixture, in September 2016, was a 1-0 England victory in Sam Allardyce’s only game in charge of the national team.