In a thrilling final night of the World Cup qualifiers, in which Italy was eliminated for the third time in a row, Turkey secured their presence for the first time in 24 years, as they beat Kosovo 1-0. Kerem Akturkoglu, from Fenerbahçe, scored the only goal against Kosovo.
Turkey, now lead by Real Madrid's Arda Guller and Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu, has had a extremely limited presence at World Cup, failing to qualify between 1962 and 1998, but was one of the surprises of the 2002 World Cup, defeating Japan, Senegal and South Korea, finishing in third place, but then failed to qualify for any of the following editions until now.
On the other side, Kosovo, who had their UEFA and FIFA membership accepted in 2016, will have to wait for another time for their first major participation in a major international tournament.
The 1-0 victory was also the only of the four finals to be won by the away team on the final night of the qualifiers on March 31. They join Group D, with hosts USA, Paraguay and Australia.