Estonia have secured Euro 2024 play-off place despite zero wins due to bizarre rule

Estonia have secured their place in the Euro 2024 play-off draw ahead of the tournament next summer - despite not winning a match during qualification.

Thomas Haberli's side, who possess Arsenal youngster Karl-Jakob Hein amongst their senior ranks, lost seven of their eight matches in qualification.

They conceded 22 goals during those eight games, scoring just twice and suffering back-to-back 5-0 defeats to Sweden and Belgium.

That goal return is lower than San Marino, who scored in three consecutive games during qualifying.

Estonia’s record unsurprisingly places them bottom of the group and, in normal circumstances, would cause them to be eliminated from Euro 2024 qualifying.

But not this time around.

While they endured a torrid qualifying campaign, Estonia fared far better in their recent Nations League campaign.

Haberli’s side were placed in the second group of League D - the lowest group - but performed strongly, winning all four of their games against Malta and the aforementioned San Marino.

They won 4-0 in San Marino on their fourth and final matchday, and scored a dramatic 94th-minute winner in Malta through veteran forward Henri Anier, who currently plays his club football in Hong Kong.

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As a result of all that, Estonia have squeezed into the Euro 2024 play-off spots - but only due to another technicality in the rules.

For the play-offs, 12 teams are selected from Leagues A, B and C, who are then replaced by the next highest-ranked team in their league if they’ve already qualified for the showpiece event in Germany.

But if fewer than four teams from the same league enter the play-offs, the highest-ranked team in League D are given the spot instead.

And after Czech Republic beat Moldova 3-0 on Monday, their spot was confirmed.

Estonia will now face Robert Lewandowski and Poland in the play-off round - meaning they have a significantly uphill task in order to make it to Germany next summer. It would be certainly some story if they somehow did it, though.