Euro 2025: Poland qualify for first time after historic playoff win over Austria | OneFootball

Poland made history on Tuesday as they defeated Austria 1-0 to qualify for Euro 2025. This will mark the first time they have ever reached a European Championship in their history.

The Eaglesses won both legs of their qualifier playoffs against Austria by a single goal, finishing with a 2-0 aggregate scoreline.

Polish captain Ewa Pajor scored in the 94th minute at the Generali Arena in Vienna to confirm Poland would be competing at Euro 2025. Poland contrastingly had lost every single match of their qualifying group. However, they earned a second chance in the playoffs against Romania, who they beat confidently, leading to the qualifier playoff against favourites Austria.

Poland were almost assured to go through on aggregate at the point of Barcelona forward Pajor’s goal in the second leg of the fixture, but it was a fitting end to such a monumental moment for the nation. The first leg in Gdansk ended in a 1-0 win after Sevilla’s loan star Natalia Padilla scored the only goal of the game in the 57th minute.

Ewa Pajor of Poland and Ewelina Kamczyk of Poland celebrate – 2024 (Photo by Mateusz Slodkowski/Getty Images)

Austria’s loss comes as a shock

With many citing Austria as one of the favourites to not only qualify but progress deep into Euro 2025, it’s a significant failure for Irene Fuhrmann’s side. In 2017, Austria reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing out to Denmark who came second overall. In 2022, they went as far as the quarters but ultimately fell to a star-studded German side, who lost in the final to England.

There will now undoubtedly be question marks on whether head coach Fuhrmann can continue in her role after a disastrous qualifying campaign. Fuhrmann’s journey to the head coach role had been an organic one. The former Austria player joined as assistant manager after retirement before spending a six-year stint as manager of the U19s. Fuhrmann then made the jump to senior national team manager in 2020, after three years as the assistant coach again.

Who has qualified for Euro 2025?

Wales have also made history by qualifying for not only their first European competition, but their first ever major tournament. Joining Poland and Wales at Euro 2025 are: hosts Switzerland, reigning champions England, Spain, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Belgium.

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