No international tournament is complete without an underdog story, and at Euro 2024 it will be Georgia who are looking to tear up the script and make yet more history. With the odds stacked against them and by following an unconventional, winding route, the Caucasus nation has reached its first-ever major tournament.
There is a familiar name in the dugout and a superstar in the starting line up, charged with keeping the minnow's dreams alive in Germany; back in familiar surroundings, Bayern Munich legend Willy Sagnol will be calling the shots from the touchline, while he will be relying on Napoli star and Georgian talisman Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to provide moments of inspiration on the pitch.
Sagnol certainly has no plans for his side to simply make up the numbers. "Now they [the players] have qualified, they want to try to progress in the group and maybe to reach the last 16 or quarter-finals," he told The Athletic. "We will go with this ambition. We know it’s going to be very, very, very difficult. But they dreamed so long about getting to a big competition, it would be a pity to go there and not do everything we can to compete."
But how did Georgia reach a historic first-ever major tournament and who are the key figures behind their success? GOAL has you covered...