18 Chait, Kathmandu. After 20 years, the European nation Czech Republic has qualified for the FIFA World Cup. The Czech Republic qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026 by defeating Denmark 3-1 in the penalty shootout in the European playoffs on Tuesday night.

The Czech Republic last played in the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006. It will be the first time since then.

After the regular time was tied 1-1 and extra time ended 2-2, the result of the match was decided by penalty shootout.

While three out of four Czech players scored, three Danish players failed to score on penalties. Czech Republic’s Tomas Chory, Tomas Sausek and Michael Sadilek scored on penalties, while Krejci failed to score on penalties.

Similarly, only Denmark’s Christian Eriksen managed to score a penalty, while Rasmus Hojlund, Andreas Dreyer and Matthias Jensen failed to score a penalty.

Before that, the Czech Republic took the lead twice, but Denmark equalized. Pele Suls scored in the third minute to give the Czechs the lead. But Denmark’s Joachim Ender scored in the 72nd minute and tied the game.

30 minutes extra time was added after the tie in the scheduled time. Ladisla Krejci scored in the 100th minute to give the Czech Republic the lead again. But Denmark came back into the game.

Casper Hogg scored in the 111th minute to tie the game 2-2. Since there were no more goals, the result was decided by a penalty shootout.

The Czech Republic will now compete in Group A at the 2026 World Cup alongside co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and South Korea.