Georgia, Ukraine and Poland grabbed the last three tickets among the 24 participants of the European Championship in Germany.
Unlike Ukraine and Poland, Georgia is new on the European football map - Khviča Kvaracheli, Georgi Mamardashvili and teammates won a place in the final tournament of the European Championship for the first time in history against Greece.
What did not work for the two-time champion of the Champions League with Milan, To Kahaber Kaladze in the generation with the owner of 20 club trophies, Shot Arveladze i Temur Kecbay, the generation led by the former French star from the bench succeeded Villa Sanjol.
Perhaps unexpected for some, but Georgia was the backbone of the great and trophy-winning selections of the Soviet Union. As many as three Georgians were starters in winning the first European Championship in France in 1960 - a 23-year-old defender Givi Coheli, his peer on the wing Mihail Meshi and a year older midfielder Slava Metreveli, who scored the goal against SFR Yugoslavia in the final to tie the game. Meshi assisted in overtime Viktor Ponedeljnik brought gold to the USSR.
"Georgians brought elegance to the USSR team in the game, and humor and good mood off the field," a member of that golden generation wrote later. Valentin Bubukin in the book "Eternally Green Field of Life".
We should not forget that Dinamo Tblisi was a force in the USSR championship, they were champions twice, in 1981 they also triumphed in the UEFA Cup, but after the collapse of the great country, it took a long time for the Georgians to finally show football sense and flair again.
- Europe, we are coming - exclaimed the hero of Georgia and the star of Napoli Hviča Kvaracheli.
And the same Europe, even beyond its borders (because Georgia territorially belongs to Asia) saw incredibly beautiful pictures of celebration and happiness where over 55.000 spectators at the "Boris Paichadze" stadium in Tbilisi enjoyed the victory and placement at the EP.
Georgia will begin its historic appearance at major competitions on June 18 in Dortmund against Turkey. Four days later, they will play in Hamburg against the Czech Republic, and on June 26 in Gelsenkirchen against Portugal.
One of the most beautiful stories of the qualification is the war-torn Ukraine, which, playing away from home, only managed to get a ticket to the continental championship in the photo-finish through the playoffs.
The chosen ones Sergej Rebrov celebrated with two reversals in the playoffs, after they "survived" in Zenica and turned an almost broken match into a victory (from 0:1 to 2:1), in a similar way they beat Iceland with an identical score in Wroclaw, Poland.
The Ukrainians have shown that they have a huge selection of top footballers, that they are a combination of youth and experience and are the favorites in the first match against Romania, on June 17 in Munich. Belgium and Slovakia are also in the same group.
- We knew we were a better team than Iceland, but I warned my teammates about Albert Guðmundsson. In vain. He gave us a fantastic goal, Israel had three before that, but we knew that we just had to give everything in order to hold positions and fulfill the game plan. At halftime, we left everything bad in the dressing room and directed a turnaround - he said Aleksandr Zinchenko, first team player of Arsenal and "yellow and blue".
5.
consecutive participation in the European Championship was provided by Poland. Mihal Probež's team eliminated Wales in the playoff final on penalties in Cardiff. Interestingly, in 19 penalty shootouts, the Poles missed only one in 25 years, but it cost them elimination in the 1 EP 4/2016 finals against Portugal
The Poles, like Georgia, qualified for the finals with penalties, a goalless draw against Wales in Cardiff. Poland starts at the Euros against the Netherlands in Hamburg on June 16 in a tough group that also includes France and Austria.
- Everything is easier when you have a player of class and experience in the team Robert Levandovski. We played a very difficult and emotionally stressful game in Wales. We managed to fight through an incredibly important day for us - he emphasized Michal Probež, coach of Poland.
Bonus video: