By Samindra Kunti in Leuven
October 30 – Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Wales and Ireland were among the teams to progress to the final round of the Euro 2025 playoffs with the seven last tickets at stake for the tournament in Switzerland.
With goals from Tessa Wullaert (2), Ella Van Kerkhoven (2) and Kassandra Missipo, the Belgians breezed past Greece 5-0, improving on their disappointing goalless draw in the first leg in Heraklion.
With 85 goals, Wullaert joined Romelu Lukaku as the all-time top scorer of Belgium’s national teams.
Their aggregate triumph was not as impressive as the performances of Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal and the Czech Republic, who had settled their ties in the first leg, running up mammoth scores over 180 minutes.
Norway crushed Albania 14-0 on aggregate, Sweden dispatched Luxembourg 12-0 over two matches, Ireland cruised past Georgia 9-0 over two legs and Portugal defeated Azerbaijan 8-1 after a 4-1 first-leg win. The Czech Republic didn’t add to their tally after an 8-1 first-leg win against Belarus.
In the final round of qualifiers, the Norwegians will be heavy favourites against Northern Ireland as will their neighbours Sweden against Serbia. Portugal take on the Czech Republic while Ireland meet Wales, who edged past Slovakia. Belgium face Ukraine.
The two-legged playoffs will be played at the end of November and the start of December.
Next year, Switzerland will host the European championship. Earlier this month, the hosts launched ticket sales with the cheapest seat starting at 25CHF. Organisers also announced that supporters will enjoy free public transport on match days.
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