The concept for Euro2020 was ambitious.
A truly pan-continental competition, it was to be spread across 13 venues in 13 countries,
as far east as Baku and as far west as Dublin and Lisbon.
It won’t quite be like that.
Qualification began back in March 2019 and in a completely different world – one in
which it was never envisaged that the competition would have to be played in quarter-full stadiums,
in front of masked spectators, or take place a year later than planned.
But this is the story of how the teams got there.
Qualification for the Euros would see the top two in ten groups qualify.
But the play off places for the other four would, for the first time, now come via the
Nations League, which actually began eight months before the start of qualification proper.
There were also a few new faces; one new team and one team with a new name.
Due to a longstanding political disagreement with Greece a name change referendum took
place in what was then known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM.
Hence forth the country, and the national team, would be known as North Macedonia.
And, after years in the wilderness, Kosovo was finally admitted into UEFA.
Kosovo was placed in a tough group with England, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and neighbouring
Montenegro.
And they proved to be something of a dark horse.
Coached by Swiss veteran Bernard Challandes, who made the most of the attacking flare of
Milot Rashica, Aber Zeneli and Verdat Muriqi, Kosovo drew their first game against Bulgaria.
But controversy wasn't far away.
Serbia, which views Kosovo as part of its territory, fiercely opposed Kosovo's UEFA
membership.
The two are kept apart by UEFA and FIFA in any draws, given the political sensitivities.
Not so Montenegro, even though it was also once part of Yugoslavia and has a large ethnic
Serb population with deep ties to Belgrade.
When Kosovo travelled away to Podgorica, the Serbian coach of Montenegro, Ljubisa Tumbakovic
refused to sit in the dugout.
Two players who played for teams in Serbia refused to play too.
Local media reported that pressure had come from Belgrade to boycott the match.
But it went ahead without the players and their coach.
Tumbakovic was immediately fired.
The game finished 1- 1 and Tumbakovic was soon hired as Serbia's head coach – although
he wouldn’t last long in that job, either.
Two months later, before the home match in Pristina against the Czech Republic, a group
of eight Czech fans were arrested with a drone and a flag with “Kosovo is Serbia” written
on it, hoping to emulate the famous incident from a Euro 2016 qualification between Albania
and Serbia.
At that game Ismail Morina, an unknown Albanian crane driver, flew a drone into the Partizan
stadium carrying Albanian nationalist imagery and slogans, sparking a riot that led to the
match being called off.
A repeat was narrowly avoided and Kosovo beat the Czechs 2-1.
Next up was England, in Southampton.
Kosovo took the lead in the first minute thanks to Valon Berisha, and then conceded five before
half time.
It was chaos as Kosovo then scored two more and missed a hatful of chances.
The match ended 5-3, although it could have been 7-7.
Ultimately, Kosovo missed out on automatic qualification after conceding two late goals
against the Czech Republic.
England would finish top of Group A after winning nine out of ten games.
But they'd have bigger problems off the pitch.
England's black players were abused during their 5-1 defeat of Montenegro.
But it was their 6-0 victory against Bulgaria in Sofia that was the most shocking.
The game was marred by racism, monkey chants, Nazi salutes and banners with fascist symbols
and number codes.
Bulgaria's coach Krasimir Balakov quit after saying he'd heard nothing.
Borislav Mihaylov, the head of the Bulgarian Football Union, who had earlier angrily denied
that Bulgarian football had a racism problem, also resigned but only after the country's
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov asked him to.
UEFA decided that fines and a spectator ban for a few matches sufficed.
However in 2021 Mihaylov rescinded his resignation and announced that he was in fact standing
for election again, this time against Manchester United and Tottenham legend Dimitar Berbatov.
The big teams cruised to the finals.
The Netherlands and Germany both rekindled their long rivalry, with the Netherlands beating
Germany for the first time in 17 years.
But both qualified with ease.
Spain qualified without losing a game.
Belgium won 10 out of 10 in a group that included Russia who also easily made it.
Both teams beat San Marino 9-0.
Italy finished with a perfect record, too, scoring 37 goals and conceding
just 4.