24-03-2024, 11:55 PM
(24-03-2024, 11:19 PM)Rdd Wrote: I’ve never see those titles before! Were they used for just that one game and how did it end up being centrally sold? Were there bespoke graphics that went with it? Interesting the theme was the European Qualifiers theme (an arrangement of Ode to Joy) whereas the current ones use the Euro 2008 theme.
For the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, hosts Russia were paired with a group with only five teams. This was that Russia would have an organised set of fixtures, and to 'complete' the group as it was the only one with five, not six, teams (Qatar were paired with Republic of Ireland's group for the 2022 campaign in a similar arrangement).
Group H had Gibraltar added after the draw, so these friendlies didn't really materalise, apart from the Belgium one. By the looks of it, this match used the standard European Qualifiers graphics of the time, and the one-off titles had the same music and same sequence of shots as the European Qualifiers intro (PS: I definitely prefer that version of Ode to Joy, though I'm more of a fan of the current graphics).
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