With the Euro 2020 group stage drawing to a close, a collection of countries have already had their fill of international action this summer.
A total of 36 matches have been played so far, all to see eight teams removed from the action and knocked out of the competition before the knock-out phase.
That’s not to say it has been easy to predict who will be eliminated in every case; already there have been comeback stories, shock results, teams having hope until the final minutes of their group games and, before the end of the groups, we could yet see a big nation with a surprise exit.
So far, though, one or two nations going home early have been expected, while some have only fallen short based on goal difference.
Here is every nation to have been knocked out of Euro 2020 so far – with more to come, and with increasing frequency from this point onwards.
Bottom of the groups
Turkey were unfailingly disappointing throughout, not managing to pick up a point and looking ragged and disorganised in each of their three games to finish bottom of Group A.
In Group B, a three-way tie left Russia bottom of the pile after they were hammered in their last match by a resurgent Denmark.
It was North Macedonia who, not unexpectedly, failed to cope with the larger nations in Group C; unlike some others who will exit this summer, they gave a tremendous account of themselves and wrote national history with their first appearance -and goal – at a major tournament. The legendary Goran Pandev also waved goodbye to the international scene as they departed.
And in Group D, Scotland fell short in their final match against Croatia, having needed a win to progress. It’s still a big step for them to have reached the finals and this could be the start of a new cycle for them in regularly reaching major tournaments again.
Poland finished bottom of Group E, but looked primed to have a run at progress thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s double to draw level, but Viktor Claesson’s injury-time strike dealt them a second loss of the tournament and left them fourth.
Hungary finished bottom of Group F despite a heroic effort against Germany in the final game, leading twice at the Allianz Arena before Leo Goretzka’s late goal denied them progress and left them fourth.
Outside the best third-placed teams
Finland and Slovakia were the unlucky third-placed sides who have been eliminated.
Czech Republic finished top of the table of third-placed sides, with Switzerland second, Portugal third and Ukraine scraping through to the round of 16.
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