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Iceland, Albania to Play First Euro, Netherlands Miss Out

Check out who qualified and who didn’t for the European Championships 2016. Netherlands was the biggest upset.

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With the end of the group matches of the European championship qualifiers, 20 teams have automatically qualified for the competition which will be held in France in 2016.

Four more teams will qualify for the tournament after fighting it out in the next stage of the qualifiers which is the play-offs.

The biggest upset of the group stages were the Netherlands, who failed to qualify for the Euros for the first time in 32 years.

The Dutch needed to beat Czech Republic and Iceland to get past Turkey, but it was all over for them once Robin Van Persie scored an own goal which put his team 3-0 down, midway through the second half. The Dutch fought back with two goals, but it was not enough.

Check out who qualified and who didn’t for the European Championships 2016. Netherlands was the biggest upset.
The Netherlands team is dejected after failing to qualify for Euro 2016. (Photo: AP)

The 2004 champions Greece had a disappointing Euro qualifiers campaign too. They finished last in their group with one win and six losses.

There are a quite a few surprise entries into the Euro 2016 which include, Wales, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Albania.

Wales qualified for their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup. Their tough and stubborn defence line which conceded only four goals during the qualifiers helped the Wales team to go through.

Iceland and Albania qualified for their first ever major tournament and Northern Ireland made it to their first major tournament in 30 years.

Check out who qualified and who didn’t for the European Championships 2016. Netherlands was the biggest upset.
Northern Ireland’s Gareth McAuley and Jamie Ward are ecstatic after qualifying for the Euros. (Photo: AP)

The top two sides of each group have automatically qualified and all the teams which have finished third will play in the next stage except for Turkey as it was the highest third-place finisher.

Ukraine and Norway had more points than Turkey but they didn’t qualify because they had lesser points than Turkey once results against the sides finishing last were not counted.

The results against the sides finishing last are taken into consideration while deciding which team would qualify automatically amongst the highest third-place finisher.

Check out who qualified and who didn’t for the European Championships 2016. Netherlands was the biggest upset.
Turkey’s Selcuk Inan celebrates his last minute goal during their Euro 2016 Group A qualifying match between Turkey and Iceland. (Photo: AP)

Hungary, Ukraine, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia will battle it out in the play-offs. The draw for the play-offs will take place on October 18.

France have qualified for the Euros without participating in the qualifiers as they are the hosts of the tournament.

The teams that have qualified for the European Championship 2016 automatically are France, Czech Republic, Iceland, Belgium, Wales, Spain, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, England, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Austria, Russia, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Albania, Turkey.

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