In Belgium on Monday, the match between the Red Devils and the Swedish team had to be canceled. After a shooting in the capital Brussels, in which two Swedish supporters lost their lives, both the Belgian and Swedish players did not want to continue playing soccer.
The other matches went peacefully. After an interesting week, some teams are already sure of their place at next year’s European Championships in Germany. Besides the host country itself, of course.
Group A
Both Spain and Scotland are already qualified for the next stage. They are currently No. 1 and 2 in Group A, respectively, with both having 15 points. Norway is still nipping at their heels with 10 points, but since they only have one more game to play, they have no possibility of coming out on top.
Spain still won against Scotland 2-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 12, and also won against Norway 1-0.
Group B
France is also already certain of a place at the EC. They are convincingly in first place with 18 points. For the Netherlands and Greece it remains exciting, they are in place 2 and 3 with 12 points. Greece has already played one more game, so the Netherlands is actually in the best position. Especially since Greece still has to play top country France, while the Netherlands ‘only’ has to play Ireland and Gibraltar.
France won against the Netherlands on Friday, but the Netherlands was able to beat Greece. Ireland went down against Greece but was able to win convincingly against Gibraltar.
Group C
In this group, only England is already sure of their place. This is because Ukraine is surprisingly holding their own in this group with strong holders England and Italy. England is now in first place, with 16 points and one more match to go than Ukraine. Italy also has one more match to go compared to Ukraine, but they need to do a little better. Ukraine is currently in second place with 13 points, Italy at 3 with 10 points.
Group D
Turkey is already sure of their spot, with 16 points they have a solid lead over Wales and Croatia. They have 10 points each.
On Sunday Wales won over Croatia, but to qualify they will have to do better in the next matches as well.
Group E
No one in this group is sure of their place yet either. Albania, the Czech Republic, Poland and even Moldova all still have a chance to qualify.
Albania does have the most chances. They are currently already in first place and have one more match to go than Poland. The Czech Republic is also in a good position, they are only 2 points from Albania and have the same number of matches to go. Poland only gets to play one more match, against the Czech Republic, so they definitely need to win that one to still have a chance of qualifying.
Group F
Both Belgium and Austria are sure of their places. With 16 points, they are in places 1 and 2, 10 points ahead of Sweden. Of course, here we also have to wait for the result of Monday’s match. UEFA would make a decision on Friday at the latest.
Austria lost to Belgium last week, but they did win by a narrow 0-1 against Azerbaijan.
Group G
In this group, too, no one is certain yet. Hungary and Serbia are in a seemingly sure place with 14 and 13 points, but Montenegro still has a small chance to overtake them. They are in 3rd place with 8 points and two matches to go. It will be a difficult task, though, as the Montenegrins have yet to even play Hungary.
Group H
Slovenia and Denmark are seemingly in a sure place with 19 points, yet Kazakhstan and Finland can still overtake them. They are in 3rd and 4th place with 15 and 12 points, respectively, and all teams still have two games to play.
Group I
Romania is currently in first place, but that also has a lot to do with Israel’s postponed matches. They were normally supposed to play against Switzerland, but due to the events in Israel, that match was postponed. As a result, Switzerland has been able to play one less match, but they have opportunities to overtake Romania as they only need 1 point.
Group J
Portugal achieved a nice 24 out of 24, which also means they are already sure of a place in the next round. They are currently 8 points ahead of Slovakia, who are not yet sure of their place. In fact, Luxembourg is 5 points behind, but they still have two matches to go.
