Group 8

A watertight defence and flourishing attack proved the perfect combination as Bulgaria qualified for UEFA EURO 2004 with a game to spare from Group 8, winning five and drawing two of their opening seven games, taking them beyond the reach of Croatia, who pipped Belgium to second place. 

Bulgaria conceded just three goals in the unbeaten run which secured their place in the 16-team tournament and scored at least two goals in all but one encounter, the goalless draw with fourth-placed Estonia. Andorra finished bottom of the five-team group after losing all eight matches. 

Bulgaria established a lead they would never relinquish by winning their opening game in September 2002 against Belgium in Brussels, thanks to goals from Zoran Jankovic and Stilian Petrov, while Croatia and Estonia played out a 0-0 draw. They went on to record a second 2-0 victory, at home against Croatia a month later, with Petrov and Dimitar Berbatov on the scoresheet. 

The same day, Belgium recorded the first of two Wesley Sonck-inspired 1-0 victories - the second coming four days later in Estonia, while Bulgaria extended their perfect start by beating Andorra. Georgi Chilikov and Krassimir Balakov scored the goals that seemed to put Baric's side on course for a third 2-0 win, but Antonio Lima pulled one back – it was Andorra's only goal of their campaign. 

After a stuttering start, Croatia brushed aside Belgium with a sparkling 4-0 home victory at the end of March and followed that up by collecting their second win in five days, 2-0 against Andorra, as Estonia held Bulgaria 0-0. Back-to-back 2-0 triumphs against Andorra briefly lifted Estonia into second place and gave them hope, the latter in June while Belgium were drawing 2-2 in Bulgaria. Four days later, though, Estonia were beaten 1-0 by Croatia while Belgium beat Andorra 3-0. 

In September, Croatia also overcame Andorra 3-0 while Estonia's hopes faded as they lost 2-0 in Bulgaria, whose 3-0 win in Andorra four days later secured them first place as Belgium kept their hopes alive by beating Croatia 2-1. Croatia still had the head-to-head advantage, though, and their 1-0 win the next month against Buglaria took them to play-offs despite Belgium's 2-0 victory against Estonia.  - UEFA.com

 

Belgium	0-2	Bulgaria	07/09/02
		Yankovich 23 Petrov  65
Croatia	0-0	Estonia	07/09/02
Andorra	0-1	Belgium	12/10/02
		Sonck 62
Bulgaria	2-0	Croatia	12/10/02
Petrov 21 Berbatov 37
Estonia	0-1	Belgium	16/10/02
		Sonck 2
Bulgaria	2-1	Andorra	16/10/02
Chilikov 37 Balakoc 58		Lima 80
Croatia	4-0	Belgium	29/03/03
Srna 9 Prso 53 Maric 68 Leko 76
Estonia	0-0	Bulgaria	02/04/03
Croatia	2-0	Andorra	02/04/03
n/a
Andorra	2-0	Estonia	30/04/03
		Zelinski 27, 75
Bulgaria	2-2	Belgium	07/06/03
Berbatov 53 Todorov pen 72		Kirilov og 31 Clement 56
Estonia	2-0	Andorra	07/06/03
Allas 23 Viikmae 32
Estonia	0-1	Croatia	11/06/03
		Kovac 77
Belgium	3-0	Andorra	11/06/03
Goor 25, 68 Sonck 44
Bulgaria	2-0	Estonia	06/09/03
Petrov 16 Berbatov 67
Andorra	0-3	Croatia	06/09/03
		Kovac 5 Simunic 16 Rosso 71
Belgium	2-1	Croatia	10/09/03
Sonck 34, 42		Simic 35
Andorra	0-3	Bulgaria	10/09/03
		Berbatov 11, 22 Hristov 58
Croatia	1-0	Bulgaria	11/10/03
Olic 48
Belgium	2-0	Estonia	11/10/03
Reinumae og 44 Buffel 60