England predicted to win Euro 2024, with Gareth Southgate at the helm: Supercomputer analysis

England are heading into a major international tournament as the outright favourites, a rarity for the Three Lions, sparking hopes that the 58-year-long wait for football to come home may finally be over.

The team, led by Gareth Southgate, have been on the cusp of ultimate success in recent years, reaching the semi-final and quarter-final stages of the two World Cups sandwiching their heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat at the European Championship at Wembley Stadium in 2021.

Southgate has chosen a blend of fresh talent and seasoned stars for the tournament in Germany. Newcomers looking to make their mark include Chelsea's Cole Palmer, Manchester United's Kobbie Mainoo, Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon and Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton.

Harry Kane will once again spearhead England's attack as captain, with Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier, Luke Shaw and John Stones all set to participate in their fourth major tournament for the national side. Notably absent from the squad are Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Harry Maguire, with the latter ruled out due to a calf injury before the team jetted off to Germany for their training camp.

Despite the setback of losing Maguire, England are still tipped as favourites to win Euro 2024, according to Opta's pre-tournament prediction model. The Three Lions have been given a 19.9% chance of lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy on July 14 in Berlin, reports Football London.

Opta's prediction model provides a comprehensive view of the tournament outcome by estimating the probability of each match result - win, draw or loss - using betting market odds and team rankings.

These odds and rankings are derived from historical and recent team performances. The model also factors in the strength of opponents and the difficulty of their route to the final, using match outcome probabilities that consider group composition and seedings into the knockout stages.

While England are favourites, it's a close call with Didier Deschamps' France side, who ousted them from the 2022 World Cup, given a 19.1% chance of winning - just 0.8% less than Southgate's squad. Interestingly, the Opta model predicts a semi-final showdown between the two sides in nearly half of all simulations, with England having a 48.2% chance of reaching the final four compared to France's 48.1%.

Germany, the hosts, are just behind with a 12.4% chance of clinching the tournament on their home turf, which would be their first Euros victory since 1996. They've been given a 36.5% chance of making it to the semi-finals, slightly ahead of Portugal's 33.6% and Spain's 32.3%.

Interestingly, even though Spain has a lower probability of reaching the semi-finals than Portugal, they have a higher likelihood of making it to the finals and winning the tournament. The odds are 9.6% for Spain and 9.2% for Portugal.

Both the Netherlands and Italy have a 5% chance of winning the tournament. Scotland, on the other hand, were given an 8.5% chance of reaching the semi-finals and a mere 1% chance of causing the biggest international football upset since Greece in 2004.