Hungary, Slovakia, Scotland and North Macedonia take play-off route to EURO 2020
Thursday, November 12, 2020
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Hungary, Slovakia, Scotland and North Macedonia have completed the line-up for next summer's final tournament.
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Hungary, Slovakia, Scotland and North Macedonia have taken the remaining spaces at UEFA EURO 2020 after winning Thursday's four play-off finals.
Path A: Hungary 2-1 Iceland
An extraordinary late comeback took Hungary to their second successive EURO. After Gylfi Sigurdsson's early free-kick for Iceland, substitute Loïc Négo slotted in an 88th-minute equaliser before Dominik Szoboszlai, on the night he had called the most important of his career, scored a superb winner in added time.
Key stat: Hungary have only failed to score in one of their last 15 home matches.
Hungary join Portugal, France and Germany in Group F.
Path B: Northern Ireland 1-2 Slovakia
Slovakia also qualified for their second successive finals courtesy of Michal Ďuriš' extra-time winner. Juraj Kucka side-footed the visitors in front after pouncing on a loose ball in midfield but Milan Škriniar turned Paddy McNair's cross into his own net late in normal time. Northern Ireland's joy was short-lived, though, thanks to Ďuriš' 110th-minute drive.
Key stat: Northern Ireland have lost their last three home matches, their worst run since 2011/12.
Slovakia join Spain, Sweden and Poland in Group E.
Path C: Serbia 1-1 Scotland (pens: 4-5)
Scotland looked to have won in Belgrade after Ryan Christie's second-half goal but a Luka Jović header in the 90th minute forced extra time, during which the home side had the best chances but could not score. That meant penalties, with the first nine kicks all scored before David Marshall saved from Serbia's talisman Aleksandar Mitrović.
Key stat: Scotland qualify for the first time since EURO '96 and it will be their first finals since the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
Scotland join England, Croatia and Czech Republic in Group D.
Path D: Georgia 0-1 North Macedonia
Goran Pandev scored the only goal to take his country to their first ever major finals. The striker put the finishing touch to a wonderful move early in the second half to win a game of few chances in Tbilisi. The veteran had been denied by Giorgi Loria in the first half, while Tornike Okriashvili's first-half shot just wide was as close as the hosts came.
Key stat: Pandev's 36 international goals is 20 more than his nation's next highest goalscorer, Georgji Hristov.
North Macedonia join Netherlands, Ukraine and Austria in Group C.
Are the play-offs new?
There have been play-offs for five of the last six EUROs, starting with a one-off match between the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland at Anfield for EURO '96. The UEFA EURO 2020 play-offs had a very different format, though. For the first time, teams had to come through more than one round and, unlike all previous editions, sides qualified to participate via the UEFA Nations League rather than the European Qualifiers.
How do the play-offs work?
The 16 UEFA Nations League group winners were guaranteed play-off places before the European Qualifiers. If they advanced via their qualifying groups, their spot went to the next best-ranked team in their league. Where a league did not have four teams to compete (such as League A), remaining slots were allocated to sides from another league, according to the overall UEFA Nations League rankings.
