Group A of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying 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 tournament. The group consisted of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, Kosovo and Montenegro. 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 were not decided based on results from the qualifying group stage, but instead based on their performance in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. Due to the COVID-19 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 salutes, monkey chants 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 Boyko Borisov called for Bulgarian Football Union president Borislav Mihaylov to resign following the racist incident. Mihaylov resigned a few hours later.
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 6 | +31 | 21 | Qualify for final tournament | — | 5–0 | 5–3 | 4–0 | 7–0 | |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 15 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Kosovo | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 16 | −3 | 11 | Advance to play-offs via Nations League | 0–4 | 2–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | |
| 4 | Bulgaria | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 17 | −11 | 6 | 0–6 | 1–0 | 2–3 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 5 | Montenegro | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 22 | −19 | 3 | 1–5 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — |
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Matches
The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 2 December 2018 in Dublin. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
| Bulgaria | 1–1 | Montenegro |
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| England | 5–0 | Czech Republic |
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| Kosovo | 1–1 | Bulgaria |
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| Montenegro | 1–5 | England |
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| Czech Republic | 2–1 | Bulgaria |
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| Montenegro | 1–1 | Kosovo |
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| Bulgaria | 2–3 | Kosovo |
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| Czech Republic | 3–0 | Montenegro |
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| Kosovo | 2–1 | Czech Republic |
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| England | 4–0 | Bulgaria |
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| England | 5–3 | Kosovo |
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| Montenegro | 0–3 | Czech Republic |
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| Czech Republic | 2–1 | England |
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| Montenegro | 0–0 | Bulgaria |
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| Bulgaria | 0–6 | England |
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| Kosovo | 2–0 | Montenegro |
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| Czech Republic | 2–1 | Kosovo |
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| England | 7–0 | Montenegro |
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| Bulgaria | 1–0 | Czech Republic |
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| Kosovo | 0–4 | England |
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Goalscorers
There were 72 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 3.6 goals per match.
12 goals
- Harry Kane
8 goals
- Raheem Sterling
4 goals
3 goals
- Marcus Rashford
2 goals
- Vasil Bozhikov
- Jadon Sancho
- Valon Berisha
- Milot Rashica
- Stefan Mugoša
1 goal
- Kristian Dimitrov
- Ismail Isa
- Todor Nedelev
- Ivelin Popov
- Jakub Brabec
- Ondřej Čelůstka
- Vladimír Darida
- Jakub Jankto
- Alex Král
- Lukáš Masopust
- Zdeněk Ondrášek
- Tomáš Souček
- Tammy Abraham
- Michael Keane
- Mason Mount
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
- Harry Winks
- Atdhe Nuhiu
- Elba Rashani
- Amir Rrahmani
- Mërgim Vojvoda
- Arbër Zeneli
- Marko Vešović
1 own goal
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:
| Team | Player | Offence(s) | Suspended for match(es) |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | Jordan Henderson | vs Montenegro (25 March 2019) vs Czech Republic (11 October 2019) vs Bulgaria (14 October 2019) | vs Montenegro (14 November 2019) |
| Danny Rose | vs Montenegro (25 March 2019) vs Bulgaria (7 September 2019) vs Czech Republic (11 October 2019) | vs Bulgaria (14 October 2019) | |
| Kosovo | Besar Halimi | vs Bulgaria (25 March 2019) vs Bulgaria (10 June 2019) vs England (10 September 2019) | vs Montenegro (14 October 2019) |
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