How the hell have Georgia qualified for Euro 2024?! 'Kvaradona' & Co out to cause more shocks on tournament debut

For avoidance of doubt, Georgia did not cruise to Euro 2024 by finishing in the top two of their qualifying group - far from it, in fact, as they instead took advantage of the opportunity provided to them by their outstanding performance in 2022-23 Nations League.

Georgia actually came fourth in their Euros qualifying group behind Spain, Scotland and Norway as they picked up just eight points and were thumped 7-1 by the Spaniards along the way, but their near-flawless Nations League campaign in 2022, where they dropped just two points in six games as they won Group Four of League C, earned them a European Championship qualifying play-off place - a safety net after they fell short in the standard qualification chase.

It was confirmed that they would need to take the play-off route with two games still to play in the race to reach Germany, as Scotland secured second spot behind leaders Spain in Group A. The League C path contained the three Nations League C group winners - Georgia, Greece and Kazakhstan - as well as the League C group runner-up, Luxembourg.

Georgia were automatically drawn against Luxembourg in the semi-final and eased to victory in the absence of their talisman Kvaratskhelia, who was suspended. Instead it was Karlsruher striker Budu Zivzivadze who emerged as the hero on the night, bagging a brace to send his country to the final.

Sagnol's men were then pitted against Greece in a meeting of two nations looking for a way out of the footballing wilderness, with the Euro 2004 winners expected to progress to the tournament proper despite Georgia having home advantage in Tbilisi in front of 55,000 raucous fans. However, it was the hosts who would heroically triumph in a fiery affair.

After a scrappy, fraught and goalless 120 minutes of action, and with Kvaratskhelia once again helpless after being injured in normal time, Georgia would triumph 4-2 on penalties. Giorgi Mamardashvili saved Greece's first spot-kick and striker Giorgos Giakoumakis later missed to allow Georgia substitute Nika Kvekveskiri to step up to make himself the hero.

His converted effort sparked wild scenes as the home supporters poured onto the pitch to celebrate a first-ever major tournament qualification. Georgia were going to the Euros.

Despite being unable to make a key contribution in the decisive play-off campaign, Kvaratskhelia is undoubtedly the talisman of this history-forging Georgian side; out of relative obscurity, the tricky 23-year-old has emerged as one of the finest wingers on the planet in Serie A - although he plays in a roaming free role for his country.

While his sublime domestic season hogged the headlines in 2022-23 as Napoli marched to a remarkable Scudetto, Kvaratskhelia performances for his country were equally eye-catching and ultimately led to Georgia securing their play-off place.

'Kvaradona' scored five times in six Nations League games between June and September 2022, laying on three more goals for his team-mates as Georgia comfortably topped their group ahead of Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Gibraltar. He didn't catch fire until the latter stages of Euro 2024 qualifying, though, scoring three times in the final four games as a centre-forward.

"Some did not believe in us, but now they will believe it," Kvaratskhelia told 1TV Sport after Georgia sealed a historic Euro 2024 place. "We are happy. I have never had such an emotion in my life."

It's not all about 'Kvarardona', though. Albeit their defence is untested at the highest level, Georgia have something of a core of key players in their 5-3-2 shape; goalkeeper Mamardashvili is just 23 and considered to be a potential world-class talent, captain Guram Kashia is an experienced leader at centre-back, then they have the aforementioned Kvaratskhelia and French-born Metz striker Georges Mikautadze up front - a potential breakout star at the tournament.

Marmadashvili and Mikautadze in particular have the ability to make an impact. The former has proven himself to be an astute shot-stopper with Valencia in La Liga, which is handy given he is likely to be very busy in Germany. In 2023-24, his post-shot xG minus goals allowed (the most reliable metric for measuring shot-stopping ability) was a remarkable +10.2 - in the 97th percentile.

Meanwhile, Mikautadze comes into the tournament in searing-hot form having finished the campaign by scoring eight times in just seven games in Ligue 1. Sold by Metz to Ajax in the summer after an excellent 2022-23 season in Ligue 2, he was loaned back to the French side in January having struggled in Amsterdam and rediscovered his goal-scoring touch back in familiar surroundings.

Georgia have a familiar name in the dugout, with five-time Bundesliga winner and Bayern Munich legend Sagnol guiding them to their first-ever major tournament. Despite having limited experience as a coach at senior level, he was given the job in 2021 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and not long after the country had been knocked out of the delayed Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs by North Macedonia.

The Frenchman - a popular figure among his players - was unable to mastermind 2022 World Cup qualification from a tough group, but Georgia secured some positive friendly results before the impressive Nations League run that gave them an opportunity to snatch a place at Euro 2024.

"We needed to start building up again, and heal our minds and hearts too because it [failing to qualify for Euro 2020] was a major disappointment," Sagnol told UEFA ahead of the tournament proper. "It was as if a dream had ended. It took time.

"We developed the players' and everyone's perspective on football. We needed to change things round a little bit, to make everything a bit more in line with the top-level requirements. The players have been fantastic in this regard. They've been working for two or three years now, changing many things. Some of them have even changed everything in their way of approaching football. This is a reward for those lads too, as they've believed [in this goal] for a while now."

Having come so far, Georgia's chances of progressing from Group F at the tournament proper are fairly slim. They knew before their play-off that they would be pitted against Portugal, Turkey and the Czech Republic in their debut on the biggest stage. They could certainly pick up some points, but it will be an uphill battle, despite the head coach's bullish ambition to "maybe to reach the last 16 or quarter-finals".

But Sagnol knows that this summer should not be viewed as the be all and end all; not Georgia's one and only chance of appearing and achieving something at a showpiece event, but rather a stepping stone on the path to more consistent, relative success.

"I hope that taking part in the Euros will bring both the federation and the nation of Georgia an experience that will spur us on to new feats in the future," the coach told UEFA. "The goal is for everyone – the players, staff and federation – to get experience under their belt in this wonderful tournament."