Scotland secured their first berth at a major tournament since France 98 with a penalty shootout victory away to Serbia in Beograd after a 1-1 draw.
Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic was denied by Scotland keeper David Marshall with the decisive spotkick, securing the visitors a 5-4 shootout win.
After Liverpool’s Andy Robertson spurned a golden chance early in the second half, Celtic’s Ryan Christie put the Scottish ahead in the 52nd minute with a shot from outside the box which went in off the post.
However, the Eagles dramatically equalised in second-half stoppage time when Luka Jovic headed home from a corner.
Scotland boss Steve Clarke said: “Normally we fall at the final hurdle or we have the glorious failure. The reaction, I thought we were the better team in the game, we just couldn’t get the second goal to kill them off and obviously conceding late on from a set play.
“It was a big setback but you have to be so proud of the player the way they responded. That was sore one, we were really close with where we wanted to be. We got it to penalties and managed to produce from the penalty spot. It’s a magnificent night.”
There was more drama in Budapest where emerging Red Bull Salzburg talent Dominik Szoboszlai raced forward to net a 90th minute winner as Hungary edged Iceland 2-1.
Iceland had taken an 11th minute lead from Gylfi Sigurddson’s free-kick with Hungary keeper Peter Gulacsi making a major error and the visitors held on to their advantage until the 88th minute when Loic Nego equalised.
Slovakia progressed in extra-time, but not after Northern Ireland scored an 87th minute equaliser via an own goal, before Michal Duris’ 110th minute winner clinched a 2-1 win in Belfast.
North Macedonia qualified for a major tournament for the first time ever, edging out Georgia 1-0 in Tbilisi with Goran Pandev scoring a 56th minute winner.
Elsewhere in friendlies on Thursday, England won 3-0 over Republic of Ireland in London while Wales drew 0-0 with the United States in their friendly in Swansea.