Hungary qualified for Euro 2024 thanks to an own goal by Bulgaria. Bulgaria was in the lead in Sofia until the sixth minute of stoppage time on Thursday (November 16, 2023). Then, Alex Petkow (90th minute + 7) scored with an unfortunate header into his own goal to make it 2-2 (1-1).
This means that Hungary has qualified for the finals (June 14 to July 14) next year. For the Hungarians, who qualified as tenth team, it is the third consecutive participation in the European Championship and the fifth in total.
Martin Adam (10th) gave the visitors an early lead, Spas Delew (24th) quickly equalized. Shortly after, Bulgarian Valentin Antow (37th) was sent off with a yellow and red card, while Hungarian Milos Kerkez (57th) was also sent off with a yellow and red card.
After Kiril Despodow (79th) converted a penalty for the losers, Hungary looked like a defeat for a long time. The duel, classified as a “high-risk match”, moved to Sofia on Tuesday. The European Football Union (UEFA) also decided to play the match behind closed doors. Riots by violent hooligans were expected during the match.
unrest in Sofia
The duel, which had already been classified as a “high-risk match”, was overshadowed by serious riots between Bulgarian fans and the police, in which 15 people were injured. The match was played in Sofia behind closed doors, but still almost 2,000 fans gathered in front of the stadium and loudly protested against the criticized president of the federation, Borislaw Mikhailov. They also attacked the police with projectiles, who in turn responded with water cannons.
The match was moved from Sofia to Plovdiv at short notice and was also supposed to be played there without fans in the stadium. However, authorities in the southern Bulgarian city withdrew their consent to host the meeting. Officially it was said that the stadium under renovation did not meet safety requirements. The last time the Bulgarian national team qualified for a major tournament was in 2004.
Austria preserves Chances of winning the group.
Austria maintained its chances of winning Group F and at the same time reinforced its confidence for the duel against the German team next Tuesday (8:45 p.m./ZDF). With a 2-0 (2-0) in their last group stage match in Estonia, boss Ralf Rangnick’s team, who had already been confirmed as a starter in the Euro Cup, rose to the top of the table. Belgium must therefore beat Azerbaijan in order to win the group on Sunday.
Of the eight Bundesliga legionnaires in Rangnick’s starting eleven, Konrad Laimer (26th) of German champions Bayern Munich and Philipp Lienhardt (40th) of SC Freiburg scored their first international goal for the team in Tallinn. last team without victories. Rest.
During the dress rehearsal for the prestigious neighborhood duel in Vienna with the team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann, the Austrians, in which former Munich player David Alaba (Real Madrid) was also part of the starting eleven, slowed down the pace in the second part. . However, the Alpine republic’s team was never in danger.
Spain defeats Cyprus
Spain had also already secured qualification for the 2024 tournament and won 3-1 (3-0) in Cyprus.