Paris (AFP)

A newcomer and an old man: Finland for the first time and Sweden for the sixth time in a row have qualified for Euro-2020 beating Liechstenstein (3-0) and Romania (2-0) on Friday. ).

And 12! With Finland and Sweden, twelve nations are officially qualified for the continental competition, which will run from 12 June to 12 July in 12 different countries.

The two Nordic nations join in this Euro the first ten qualified, among which are Spain and Italy, two major nations who repeated their ranges Friday against Malta at home for the Spaniards (7-0) and on the field of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Italians (3-0).

With Spain, Italy and henceforth Finland and Sweden, we find on the starting line England, Belgium, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. All ready to succeed Portugal, winner in 2016 against France in the final but not yet qualified for the 2020 edition.

. 9 wins out of 9 for Italy

But before winning, the important thing is to participate. In any case for Finland, the 55th nation in the FIFA rankings that never got in its history to reach the final stage of a great competition, whether the Euro or the World Cup.

It is done for this country of 5.5 million inhabitants, which exceeds in group J with 18 points (6 victories, 3 defeats) a former winner of the Euro, Greece (3rd, 11 pts), crowned by surprise in 2004.

In this group, Italy continued their perfect course with a ninth win in as many games, against Bosnia and Herzegovina (5th, 10 pts).

The other mastodon that played Friday, Spain (1st, 23 pts), has also consolidated its first place in the group F, thanks to four players who scored their first goal with the Roja: Pau Torres (Villarreal) and Dani Olmo (Dinamo Zagreb) for their debut as well as Pablo Sarabia (Paris-SG) and Gerard Moreno (Villarreal).

Behind Spain, Sweden (2nd, 18 pts) has ensured its place by taking his distance from his opponent in the evening, Romania (3rd, 14 pts).

. Denmark is positioning itself

Another Nordic country, Denmark, surprise winner of Euro-1992, will have to wait for him before validating his ticket. But with their wide success against Gibraltar (6-0), the Danes (15 pts) took first place in a highly disputed D group.

By leaving Georgia with difficulty (1-0), Switzerland (14 pts) took second place in this group and prevented Denmark from qualifying immediately.

This order of things could evolve Monday, day of the last match: Ireland, past 3rd (12 pts), welcomes Denmark and Switzerland goes to Gibraltar, last in the group with zero points.

© 2019 AFP