EURO 2020: HOW MOLDOVA MISSED OUT

Moldovan football has not enjoyed a lift off as far as qualification for the European Championships is concerned despite the increase in the number of participating teams from 16 to 24 ahead of the last edition in France. The 2016 edition of the European Championships was won by Portugal at the expense of hosts France in the final. Ex-Swansea City striker Eder scored the only goal of that final in extra time to hand Portugal their first major tournament via a 1-0 win over the French Les Blues. A lot of Moldovan football fans would have expected a lot of improvements from the national team in the bid to qualify for the major tournament on the European continent but this has not happened till date. Moldovan football was far away from making an appearance at the 2020 European Championships this summer after the national team finished bottom of their group in the qualifiers.

For the Euro 2020 qualifiers, Moldova were drawn in Group H alongside Euro 2016 hosts and losing finalists France. Apart from the French Les Blues, the other teams in the group were Iceland, Turkey, Albania and Andorra. At the end of proceedings in the group, Moldova finished at the bottom of the group and only had one win to show for their troubles with the other games ending in defeat to dampen the morale of the keen followers of Moldovan football. Only the top two teams from each group qualified for Euro 2020 automatically meaning that France and Turkey secured their spots at the tournament after they finished in the top two places in Group H, while Iceland in third place could only qualify through the playoffs. In the end, Iceland were stopped from qualifying for Euro 2020 by Hungary in the playoffs. In Group H, Albania and Andorra were fourth and fifth respectively. The only win for Moldova came at home to Andorra in the group.