Switzerland started the qualification for the European Championship with a convincing 5:0 against Belarus. In the ghost game in Serbian Novi Sad, Renato Steffen scored a hat trick (4th, 17th, 29th) for the Swiss in the first half hour.
Salzburg’s Noah Okafor came on for the “Nati” after an hour and prepared the 4-0 through Granit Xhaka (62nd). Shortly thereafter, Zeki Amdouni (65th) scored the final score. Switzerland took the lead in Group I, while Israel and Kosovo drew 1-1 in the parallel game.
No games in Belarus
Despite participating in the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, UEFA decided not to exclude Belarus from participating in the European Championship. However, the Eastern Europeans are not allowed to play their games in their own country. No spectators were allowed in Novi Sad.
Turkey won 2-1 against Armenia on their start in Yerevan. However, the guests had to run after a deficit. In the tenth minute, Ozan Kabak scored an own goal. After Orkun Kökcü equalized in the first half (35′), Kerem Aktürkoglu (64′) scored to make it 2-1. Scotland defeated Cyprus 3-0.