Soccer-Hungary, Iceland and North Macedonia reach Euro playoff finals

Georgia will welcome North Macedonia in their playoff final. Norway were locked at 1-1 with Serbia at the end of regular time as were Northern Ireland away to Bosnia, while the score was 0-0 in the Scotland v Israel and Slovakia v Ireland games before extra time.

Hungary, Iceland, North Macedonia and Georgia were the first four teams to advance to the Euro 2020 playoff finals on Thursday after beating their respective opponents to earn a shot at reaching next year's tournament. Four other games - Norway v Serbia, Bosnia v Northern Ireland, Slovakia v Ireland and Scotland v Israel - went to extra time, with the winners also going through to the playoff finals on Nov. 12.

Goals from Willi Orban, Zsolt Kalmar and Nemanja Nikolic gave the Hungarians a 3-1 win in Bulgaria while Iceland edged visitors Romania 2-1 with a Gylfi Sigurdsson double. Hungary will host Iceland in their playoff final.

North Macedonia overcame Balkan neighbours Kosovo 2-1 as they aim to qualify for their first major tournament as an independent nation, while Georgia beat Belarus 1-0, courtesy of an early Tornike Okriashvili penalty. Georgia will welcome North Macedonia in their playoff final.

Norway were locked at 1-1 with Serbia at the end of regular time as were Northern Ireland away to Bosnia, while the score was 0-0 in the Scotland v Israel and Slovakia v Ireland games before extra time. Euro 2020, originally scheduled for June 12-July 12, was pushed back 12 months because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and is now due to be held from June 11-July 11 next year.