Croatia Secure Euro 2024 Ticket, France Held By Greece

Croatia clinched the final automatic qualifying spot for Euro 2024 on Tuesday as Wales were forced to settle for a play-off place, while France had to come from behind to draw in Greece. Semi-finalists at the World Cup 12 months ago, Croatia knew they would qualify for next year's European Championship in Germany with a win against Armenia in Zagreb, but any slip-up would have allowed Wales to leapfrog them into second place in Group D. In the end it was a header two minutes before half-time by Ante Budimir that gave Croatia a 1-0 win to take them through, while Wales could only draw 1-1 with already-qualified Turkey in Cardiff.

Croatia's prospects of automatic qualification had appeared in doubt when they lost to both Turkey and Wales in October, but they become the 21st and final automatic qualifier for the 24-team tournament next June and July.

"We deserve to be at the Euro and we have a lot of time now to prepare for what awaits us there," veteran captain Luka Modric told UEFA.com.

Wales will now go into the play-offs next March to determined whether they qualify for a third consecutive Euro.

A draw this Thursday will decide whether they face Finland, Ukraine or Iceland in the play-off semi-finals.

A victory in that would set up a final decider against Poland or Estonia, with three qualifying spots in total on offer in the play-offs.

They beat Ukraine in a play-off to qualify for last year's World Cup.

Rob Page's side needed to beat Turkey on Tuesday to stand a chance of overtaking Croatia, and they went ahead through an early Neco Williams goal. However, Yusuf Yazici's 70th-minute penalty earned Turkey a draw.

"That level of performance is what we need to do. If we do that when we come back together in March we'll