Wales suffered heartbreak in their first-ever penalty shoot-out as Poland booked their place at Euro 2024 after a goalless 120 minutes.
Spot-kicks were needed on a tense evening in which Ben Davies had a first-half header disallowed for offside but chances were scarce in this play-off final.
Wales were reduced to 10 in the final seconds as Chris Mepham was banished for a second yellow card and Cardiff City Stadium held its breath following an impromptu rendition of the national anthem.
Poland converted five perfect penalties with Robert Lewandowski, Sebastian Szymanski, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Nicola Zalewski and Krzysztof Piątek successful against Danny Ward.
Wales matched them as Ben Davies, Kieffer Moore – via the underside of the crossbar – Harry Wilson and Neco Williams scored.
But Daniel James saw his effort pushed out by Wojciech Szczesny as Wales lost 5-4 on penalties and wild Polish celebrations began.
It was a cruel end for the hosts who had given everything to qualify for a third consecutive European Championship.
Wales had beaten the visitors only once – a maiden meeting in 1974 World Cup qualifying – and suffered seven defeats in 10 games, including six successive losses.
They also had to nullify the threat of Lewandowski with the 35-year-old striker in rich scoring form for Barcelona and seeking to add to his record 82 Poland goals.
Wales made one alteration from Thursday’s 4-1 semi-final thumping of Finland, with Moore replacing David Brooks in the forward line.
Poland were unchanged from the side that put five past Estonia in their Warsaw semi-final but Aston Villa’s Matty Cash was missing from the substitutes’ bench after damaging a hamstring.
South Wales Police had promised a zero-tolerance approach to
Football
Wales
soccer
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Robert Lewandowski
Harry Wilson
Matty Cash
Daniel James
Danny Ward
Wojciech Szczesny
Chris Mepham
Krzysztof Piatek
David Brooks
Nicola Zalewski