Georgia loses to Israel in penalty shootout of UEFA U21 European Championship quarter-finals

The Georgian U21 national football team on Saturday lost to Israel in a penalty shootout by 3:4 in the match of the UEFA 2023 Under 21 European Championship quarter-finals, with the national team keeping the chance to participate in the 2024 Olympics.

The main and extra time of the match, held at the Dinamo Arena stadium in the country’s capital city of Tbilisi, ended in a scoreless draw 0:0.

The Championship attendance record has been once again broken by Georgians with 44,338 spectators at the Dinamo Arena, with the previous game against the Netherlands hitting the record with 43,004 guests.

Despite losing, if France and England reach the semi-finals of the Championship, an additional match between the best-defeated teams from the quarter-finals will be held for the Olympic qualification, as France will take part in the Olympics as a host country and England does not have the right to participate as the country is not a member of the International Olympics Committee. 

The national team, coached by Ramaz Svanadze, ended the group stage in first place with five points, beating Portugal and drawing with Belgium and the Netherlands.