By There is plenty on the line in the final round of Euro 2024 qualifiers this week as teams look to make it to the showpiece event next summer – but one outcome could produce something we’ve never seen in the history of the competition.
The other qualifiers will be determined by three play-off ties, as well as the battle for second place in Group D between Croatia and Wales.
Group B, meanwhile, is done and dusted, with France and Netherlands both qualifying automatically and Greece advancing to the play-offs via their Nations League position. Or so you might think.
With five teams in the group, meanwhile, Republic of Ireland’s campaign is over after their 1-0 defeat to Netherlands.
That means that, for the final round of the group, France take on Greece, while Netherlands are up against Gibraltar.
If France and Netherlands both win, it will complete football’s rarest phenomenons – the ‘perfect’ group.
As spotted on Reddit, the teams will have perfect records should those results occur.
France would have eight wins, with Netherlands on six victories. Greece, meanwhile, would have four wins to their name, with Ireland on two.
And Gibraltar would round off the ‘symmetry’ with zero wins from their eight games. There has not been a single draw in the group up to now.
As a result, the difference in points between each team would be identical. France would have 24, with Netherlands on 18. Greece would have 12, Ireland six and Gibraltar zero.
Such a feat has never occurred before in the history of European Championships qualifying – although it did nearly happen in qualifying for Euro 1992.
Spain’s match against Albania was cancelled due to the ongoing political crisis in Albania. Had the match taken place, and Spain won, they would have had four wins from their eight games.
Group winners France had eight wins, while fourth-placed Iceland were on two wins. Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) and Albania, though, would have ruined the ‘order’, with five wins and one win respectively.
