On the penultimate day of the European Championship qualifying campaign, the Czech Republic and Slovenia qualified directly for EURO 2024 in Germany.
Both the Czechs and the Slovenians had a simple task: not to lose. The Czech Republic was the best at this. Thanks to an early goal from David Doudera, things quickly came to a head against Moldova, who found themselves down to ten in the 55th minute. The dream of the number 157 in the world shattered. In the end, Tomas Chory and Tomas Soucek made it 3-0.
In the other match, already placed Albania was stuck at 0-0 against the Faroe Islands, but that did not change the final score in Group E. Albania wins the group with 15 points and a better head-to-head match/goal difference than the Czechs (also 15 points). Poland (11) can go to the jump-offs via a group win in the Nations League, while Moldova (10) finishes fourth.
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Slovenia was struggling on a particularly bad pitch in Ljubljana. Until Benjamin Sesko made it 1-0 just before the end. Immediately after halftime, however, Ramazan Orazov scored the equalizer, keeping things exciting until the final whistle. Ultimately, the troops of top goalkeeper Jan Oblak won 2-1 after a goal by Benjamin Verbic and they go to the European Championship as number two with 20 points.
Denmark (22) actually lost 2-0 to Northern Ireland due to goals from Standard player Isaac Price and Dion Charles, but wins Group H. Kazakhstan ends up on 19 points, Finland on 18 points. The Finns won 1-2 against San Marino, which scored three consecutive matches for the first time ever.
Italy qualified second in Group C after a 0-0 draw against Ukraine, which is allowed to go to the jump-offs. England was already assured of a European Championship ticket and was stuck at 1-1 against North Macedonia after a light penalty scored by Enis Bardhi and an own goal by Jani Atanasov.
