The final European Championship qualifiers took place in November last year, marking the end of a nearly year-long process of qualifying for this summer’s tournament.
For some sides, this qualifying stage is still yet to be completed though, as 12 teams prepare to face one another in a battle for the final three places in Euro 2024. Over the next couple of days, six semi-finals will take place, followed by three finals with the winners of each earning their qualification for the tournament.
With massive drama likely to come, here are our top talking points ahead of these qualifier play-offs:
Estonia have the toughest task
Estonia, who earned their play-off spot through their performances in the UEFA Nations League, face arguably the most difficult task of any side throughout these play-off semi-finals. They face up against a Poland side who are unbeaten in all of their last 20 home Euro qualifying matches with their last loss coming back in 2006 against Finland.
While this will be an extremely tough task for Estonia they will draw hope from the previous meeting between these two sides when Konstantin Vassiljev scored the winner in 2012, and the midfielder could become the nations most-capped player with an appearance in this one.
Kieffer Moore to carry Wales through?
Kieffer Moore had struggled for game time throughout the first half of this season, making just eight substitute appearances for Bournemouth and managing to find the net on a single occasion. His January move to the Championship promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town has gone excellently so far though, scoring six in his first ten appearances for his new side.
This leaves Moore in fantastic form coming into these qualifying games with Wales, and his nation will be looking to the striker to help take them to their third successive Euro finals.
Iceland hope to beat Israel for first time
Israel have never made it into a Euro finals before and they will be heading into this game against Iceland in brilliant spirits after a positive qualifying campaign saw them miss out by just two points.
These sides have previously met on five occasions with Israel remaining unbeaten across these ties, taking two victories and drawing the remaining three. While they will be looking to remain unbeaten against the visitors, Iceland will be hopeful of making a return to the Euros finals after missing out in 2021.
In-form strikers come face to face
This game sees Bosnia and Herzegovina’s veteran talisman Edin Dzeko come up against Ukraine’s newly-emerged star Artem Dovbyk, and the eventual winner of this tie is likely to come through one of these two.
Dzeko has already reached double figures in goals for his club this campaign, making this his ninth straight season of scoring 10+ goals since only managing six in his final disappointing season at Manchester City in 2014/15.
Dovbyk, on the other hand, made his move to Girona in the summer, making his first appearance in any of Europe’s top five leagues. The Ukrainian has adapted brilliantly so far, scoring the joint-third-highest number of goals in La Liga with 14 this season.
Kazakhstan hope to qualify for first ever major finals
Kazakhstan come into this game against Greece in some of the best form this nation has ever been in after they won six of their 10 qualifying games in Group H, one less than they had won in all of their previous four campaigns combined. While they missed out on the top two by four points, Kazakhstan will be determined to make their first-ever appearance at a Euro tournament with a victory against Greece.
Georgia and Luxembourg fight for Euro debut
At least one of Georgia and Luxembourg will have the opportunity of competing in one of three play-off finals to make it to their debut appearance in a senior final tournament.
Luxembourg, who had only managed eight wins in 117 Euro qualifiers ahead of the qualifying campaign for the 2024 tournament, managed to win five of their 10 games on the way to a third-place finish in Group J. This form will give Luxembourg confidence of victory ahead of this semi-final, and with Georgia’s talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia being suspended for this game they will be even more hopeful of taking victory.
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