Group A of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying was split into ten groups of national teams. Group A was played between 22 March and 17 November 2019 and featured five teams with the top two teams qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament.[1] The group consisted of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, Kosovo and Montenegro.[2] Teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.[3]
England finished as group winners, with a single loss to the Czech Republic and seven wins, whilst the Czech Republic finished second with five wins and three losses. Both teams qualified directly for the main draw of UEFA Euro 2020.[4] Unlike previous editions, the participants of the play-offs were not decided based on results from the qualifying group stage, but instead based on their performance in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finals are to be played from 11 June to 11 July 2021, rather than in 2020.
On 14 October 2019, during the Bulgaria v England match, there was racist behaviour from a group of Bulgarian fans. This included Nazi salutes, monkey chants and racist booing. The behaviour was widely condemned by the public and various groups, including the anti-racist football campaign Kick It Out. The next day, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov called for Bulgarian Football Union president Borislav Mihaylov to resign following the racist incident. Mihaylov resigned a few hours later.[5]
The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 2 December 2018 in Dublin.[6] [7] Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
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A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[3]
The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches:
| Team | Player | Offence(s) | Suspended for match(es) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Henderson | vs Montenegro (25 March 2019) vs Czech Republic (11 October 2019) vs Bulgaria (14 October 2019) | vs Montenegro (14 November 2019) | ||
| Danny Rose | vs Montenegro (25 March 2019) vs Bulgaria (7 September 2019) vs Czech Republic (11 October 2019) | vs Bulgaria (14 October 2019) | ||
| Besar Halimi | vs Bulgaria (25 March 2019) vs Bulgaria (10 June 2019) vs England (10 September 2019) | vs Montenegro (14 October 2019) |