Group A of

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

was split into ten groups of national teams. Group A was played between 22 March and 17 November 2019 and featured five teams with the top two teams qualifying for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament. The group consisted of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. Teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. England finished as group winners, with a single loss to the Czech Republic and seven wins, whilst the Czech Republic finished second with five wins and three losses. Both teams qualified directly for the main draw of UEFA Euro 2020. Unlike previous editions, the participants of the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

were not decided based on results from the qualifying group stage, but instead based on their performance in the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competition ...

. Due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic, the finals were delayed to take part in 2021, rather than in 2020.

Group summary

On 14 October 2019, during the Bulgaria v England match, there was racist behaviour from a group of Bulgarian fans. This included

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

monkey chants Monkey chanting is the making of calls aimed at ridiculing or denigrating Black sportspeople, usually footballers, who play in majority-White countries. The chants are intended to imitate the noises of monkeys or apes, and may be accompanied by ...

and racist booing. The behaviour was widely condemned by the public and various groups, including the anti-racist football campaign Kick It Out. The next day,

Prime Minister of Bulgaria The Prime Minister of Bulgaria () is the head of government of Bulgaria. They are oftentimes the leader of a political coalition in the Bulgarian parliament, known as the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unica ...

Boyko Borisov Boyko Metodiev Borisov (, born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria on three separate occasions, serving a total of 9 years between 2009 and 2021, making him the country's longest-serving post-communi ...

called for

Bulgarian Football Union The Bulgarian Football Union ( BFS) is the governing body of association football in Bulgaria, and a member of UEFA since 1954. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and fields its Bulgaria national football team in UEFA and F ...

president

Borislav Mihaylov Borislav Biserov Mihaylov (; born 12 February 1963) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper, and Former President of the Bulgarian Football Union (2005 – 2019; 2021 – 2023). He is the longest-serving presid ...

to resign following the racist incident. Mihaylov resigned a few hours later.

Standings

Matches

The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 2 December 2018 in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Times are

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

/ CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses). ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Goalscorers

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: * Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences) * Receiving three yellow cards in three different matches, as well as after fifth and any subsequent yellow card (yellow card suspensions were not carried forward to the play-offs, the finals or any other future international matches) The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:

Notes

References

External links

UEFA Euro 2020
UEFA.com
European Qualifiers
UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Euro

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

2018–19 in Bulgarian football 2019–20 in Bulgarian football 2018–19 in Czech football 2019–20 in Czech football Czech Republic at UEFA Euro 2020 2018–19 in English football 2019–20 in English football England at UEFA Euro 2020 2018–19 in Kosovan football 2019–20 in Kosovan football 2018–19 in Montenegrin football 2019–20 in Montenegrin football