Originally Posted by BBC News
Georgia players and fans partied through the night in central Tbilisi following their qualification for Euro 2024
As a football team, you have achieved something special when an impromptu parade and celebration in the centre of your capital city is organised at 2am.
Those were the scenes in Georgia, after the national team beat Greece on penalties to qualify for Euro 2024 – their first major senior tournament.
“Within about an hour [of full-time] we were told ‘get on the coach, we are going to do a victory parade through Tbilisi’,” assistant manager David Webb tells BBC Sport.
“I’ve never seen anything like it – the streets were lit up with fans. A drive that usually takes 10 minutes took about an hour to get into the centre. Then we were on Freedom Square, it was incredible.”
All you need to know about Euro 2024
Rate Euro 2024 kits – which new strip is the best?
Guide to the Euro 2024 stadiums
Those scenes followed Georgia beating the 2004 European champions on penalties in Tbilisi, having earned a spot in the play-offs through winning their Nations League group in League C.
And victory on spot-kicks after a goalless draw earned Georgia a first major finals place at the 15th time of asking, after they failed to qualify for a tournament since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
“It was the best day in my life, and the best day for many Georgians,” Saba Sapanadze, Georgia fan and presenter of the YouTube channel Geo Team, tells BBC Sport. Read Full Article
<!– /wp:paragraph