Historic European Championship participation close
Expulsion instead of compensation: Georgia survives minutes of chaos
March 21, 2024, 8:18 p.m
The national football teams of Luxembourg and Georgia have never qualified for a European Championship. Therefore, the playoff semi-finals have a historical dimension. Georgia can celebrate at the end, thanks to a KSC professional and a referee who corrects himself.
Thanks to Budu Zivzivadze from Karlsruher SC, Georgia is just one win away from its first participation in a European Football Championship. The striker of the second division team scored a brace (40th/63rd) in the 2-0 (1-0) win in the play-off semi-final against outsiders Luxembourg. For Luxembourg, the dream of the European Championship premiere ended.
The crux of the game in Tbilisi was the turbulent minutes after the break, when Gerson Rodrigues (52nd) initially managed to equalize for Luxembourg. Because there had been a foul on the other side shortly before that had initially gone unpunished, the Spanish referee, according to the TV images, took the goal back. Instead, Luxembourg’s Maxime Chanot was shown red and a little later the score was 2-0.
Georgia will meet Greece or Kazakhstan again in Tbilisi on Tuesday, and the winner will go to the European Championships (June 14th to July 14th) where they will meet Turkey, Portugal and the Czech Republic in Group F.