UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group A

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Group A of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying was split into ten groups of national teams. Group A was played between 22 March and 17 November 2019 and featured five teams with the top two teams qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. [1] The group consisted of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, Kosovo and Montenegro. [2] Teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. [3]

Contents

England finished as group winners, with a single loss to the Czech Republic and seven wins, whilst the Czech Republic finished second with five wins and three losses. Both teams qualified directly for the main draw of UEFA Euro 2020. [4] Unlike previous editions, the participants of the play-offs were not decided based on results from the qualifying group stage, but instead based on their performance in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finals were delayed to take part in 2021, rather than in 2020.

Group summary

On 14 October 2019, during the Bulgaria v England match, there was racist behaviour from a group of Bulgarian fans. This included Nazi salutes, monkey chants and racist booing. The behaviour was widely condemned by the public and various groups, including the anti-racist football campaign Kick It Out. The next day, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov called for Bulgarian Football Union president Borislav Mihaylov to resign following the racist incident. Mihaylov resigned a few hours later. [5]

Standings

PosTeam
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification Flag of England.svg Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Flag of Kosovo.svg Flag of Bulgaria.svg Flag of Montenegro.svg
1Flag of England.svg  England 8701376+3121Qualify for final tournament — 5–0 5–3 4–0 7–0
2Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 85031311+215 2–1 — 2–1 2–1 3–0
3Flag of Kosovo.svg  Kosovo 83231316−311Advance to play-offs via Nations League 0–4 2–1 — 1–1 2–0
4Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 8134617−116 0–6 1–0 2–3 — 1–1
5Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro 8035322−193 1–5 0–3 1–1 0–0 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Matches

The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 2 December 2018 in Dublin. [6] [7] Times are CET/CEST, [note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Bulgaria  Flag of Bulgaria.svg1–1Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro
  • Nedelev Soccerball shade.svg82' (pen.)
 Report
Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia
Attendance: 5,652 [8]
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (France)
England  Flag of England.svg5–0Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Report
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 82,575 [8]
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
Kosovo  Flag of Kosovo.svg1–1Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
Report
Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina
Attendance: 12,580 [8]
Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)
Montenegro  Flag of Montenegro.svg1–5Flag of England.svg  England
Report
City Stadium, Podgorica
Attendance: 8,329 [8]
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)
Czech Republic  Flag of the Czech Republic.svg2–1Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
Report
Stadion Letná, Prague
Attendance: 13,482 [8]
Referee: Tamás Bognár (Hungary)
Montenegro  Flag of Montenegro.svg1–1Flag of Kosovo.svg  Kosovo
Report
City Stadium, Podgorica
Attendance: 100 [8] [note 2]
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Bulgaria  Flag of Bulgaria.svg2–3Flag of Kosovo.svg  Kosovo
Report
Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia
Attendance: 4,994 [8]
Referee: Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen (Denmark)
Czech Republic  Flag of the Czech Republic.svg3–0Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro
Report
Andrův stadion, Olomouc
Attendance: 11,565 [8]
Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (Russia)
Kosovo  Flag of Kosovo.svg2–1Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Report
Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina
Attendance: 12,678 [8]
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
England  Flag of England.svg4–0Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
Report
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 82,605 [8]
Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)
England  Flag of England.svg5–3Flag of Kosovo.svg  Kosovo
Report
St Mary's Stadium, Southampton
Attendance: 30,155 [8]
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Montenegro  Flag of Montenegro.svg0–3Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Report
City Stadium, Podgorica
Attendance: 5,951 [8]
Referee: Ali Palabıyık (Turkey)
Czech Republic  Flag of the Czech Republic.svg2–1Flag of England.svg  England
Report
Sinobo Stadium, Prague
Attendance: 18,651 [8]
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
Montenegro  Flag of Montenegro.svg0–0Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
Report
City Stadium, Podgorica
Attendance: 2,743 [8]
Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)
Bulgaria  Flag of Bulgaria.svg0–6Flag of England.svg  England
Report
Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia
Attendance: 17,481 [8]
Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)
Kosovo  Flag of Kosovo.svg2–0Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro
Report
Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina
Attendance: 12,600 [8]
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
Czech Republic  Flag of the Czech Republic.svg2–1Flag of Kosovo.svg  Kosovo
Report
Štruncovy sady Stadion, Plzeň
Attendance: 10,986 [8]
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
England  Flag of England.svg7–0Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro
Report
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 77,277 [8]
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
Bulgaria  Flag of Bulgaria.svg1–0Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Report
Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia
Attendance: 0 [8] [note 3]
Referee: Sergei Karasev (Russia)
Kosovo  Flag of Kosovo.svg0–4Flag of England.svg  England
Report
Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina
Attendance: 12,326 [8]
Referee: Paweł Gil (Poland)

Goalscorers

There were 72 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 3.6 goals per match.

12 goals

8 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: [3]

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

TeamPlayerOffence(s)Suspended for match(es)
Flag of England.svg  England Jordan Henderson Yellow card.svg vs Montenegro (25 March 2019)
Yellow card.svg vs Czech Republic (11 October 2019)
Yellow card.svg vs Bulgaria (14 October 2019)		vs Montenegro (14 November 2019)
Danny Rose Yellow card.svg vs Montenegro (25 March 2019)
Yellow card.svg vs Bulgaria (7 September 2019)
Yellow card.svg vs Czech Republic (11 October 2019)		vs Bulgaria (14 October 2019)
Flag of Kosovo.svg  Kosovo Besar Halimi Yellow card.svg vs Bulgaria (25 March 2019)
Yellow card.svg vs Bulgaria (10 June 2019)
Yellow card.svg vs England (10 September 2019)		vs Montenegro (14 October 2019)

Notes

  1. ↑ CET (UTC+1) for matches in March and November 2019, and CEST (UTC+2) for all other matches.
  2. ↑ Montenegro were sanctioned by UEFA to play one home match (against Kosovo on 7 June 2019) without spectators for racist behaviour in their home match against England. [9]
  3. ↑ The Bulgaria v Czech Republic match was played behind closed doors due to a UEFA punishment against Bulgaria for racist behaviour in their home match against England. [10]

References

  1. ↑ "UEFA Euro 2020: Qualifying Draw Procedure" (PDF). UEFA . Union of European Football Associations. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying draw made in Dublin". UEFA . Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2018–20". UEFA . Union of European Football Associations. 9 March 2018. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  4. ↑ "With 7-0 Win against Montenegro, England Qualifies for Euro 2020". Mirror Herald. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  5. ↑ "Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov calls for country's football chief to resign after racist abuse". CNN. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying schedule: all the fixtures". UEFA . Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "European Qualifiers 2018–20: Group stage fixture list" (PDF). UEFA . Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "Summary UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying – Group A". Soccerway. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  9. ↑ "Disciplinary - Inside UEFA – UEFA.com". UEFA. 26 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "Bulgaria fans' racism: Racist abuse of England players leads to stadium ban". BBC Sport . British Broadcasting Corporation. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
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