North Macedonia Qualifies for Its First European Championship


It's the first major tournament of any kind for the national team.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The 37-year-old Goran Pandev sent North Macedonia to its first major tournament, scoring the decisive goal Thursday in a 1-0 victory over Georgia to secure a spot at next year’s European Championship.

Pandev deftly finished off a neat passing move through the Georgia defense in the 56th minute in the single-game playoff to decide who advanced to the postponed Euro 2020 tournament.

The game was perhaps the biggest in the history of two young soccer nations, but no fans were allowed into the 54,000-seat national stadium in Tbilisi because of coronavirus restrictions in Georgia.

Three more playoffs were kicking off later Thursday to complete the 24-nation Euro 2020 lineup: Hungary vs. Iceland, Northern Ireland vs. Slovakia and Serbia vs. Scotland. Only Northern Ireland was to let some fans attend.

Pandev’s 36th goal for North Macedonia extended his record for a national team which joined FIFA and UEFA as an independent nation only 26 years ago.

The former Yugoslav republic will face Austria and Ukraine in Bucharest in Group C before taking on the top-seeded Netherlands in Amsterdam.

The qualifying format guaranteed a tournament place for a low-ranked country that won a group in the bottom tier of the inaugural Nations League played two years ago.

Currently No. 65 in FIFA’s world rankings, North Macedonia will be the biggest outsider at Euro 2020 and the second newcomer, joining Finland.

The four playoffs were originally scheduled for March but were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic which also forced UEFA to push Euro 2020 into next year.