European Championship Qualifiers: Winners and Losers from Sunday's Games

The Czech Republic and Iceland both secured places at Euro 2016 in Sunday's qualifying action.

Both nations are now certain to occupy the two automatic spots from Group A, leaving the Netherlands and Turkey to fight it out for a play-off spot.

Wales' wait to play in a major tournament for the first time since the 1958 World Cup goes on a little longer, though both they and Belgium are well placed to come out of Group B.

Meanwhile, Group H sees only three points splitting the top three nations. Italy sit at the summit after a narrow win over Bulgaria, but both Norway and Croatia remain in contention.

Here, Bleacher Report picks out the winners and losers from Sunday's nine-game schedule.

Winner: Czech Republic

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The Czech Republic became the second team to qualify for next year's tournament in France thanks to a 2-1 win away in Latvia.

First-half goals from David Limbersky and Vladimir Darida helped the Czechs follow England's lead in booking their place in France, as confirmed by ESPN Stats & Info on Twitter, "The Czech Republic are 2nd team to qualify for EURO 2016, joining England. It's their sixth straight Euros appearance."

Arturs Zjuzins' goal for Latvia in the 73rd minute made it a nervy finish, but Pavel Vrba's side held out in the closing stages. 

They will be pleased to have got the job done with two games to spare, considering they complete their campaign with tricky fixtures against Turkey and the Netherlands.

Loser: Danny Blind and the Netherlands

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The Netherlands finished third in the last World Cup, yet they face the embarrassment of not even qualifying for Euro 2016.

A 3-0 defeat in Turkey, coupled with the Czech Republic triumphing in Latvia, means the Dutch now cannot finish in the top two in Group A.

They have now dropped to fourth in the table, with Turkey going above them.

The Netherlands—who had also lost 1-0 at home to Iceland in their previous outing in qualifying—have now conceded 10 goals in qualifying.

A second-straight reverse means new manager Danny Blind has claimed a rather unwanted record: According to OptaJohan, "Danny Blind is the first Dutch national team manager to lose both of his first two competitive games with the Netherlands. Struggle."

Winner: Iceland

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No matter where you are from, or who you cheer for, it is hard not to be delighted for Iceland.

A 0-0 draw at home to Kazakhstan was enough to clinch Iceland a place in a major tournament for the first time in their history.

They made heavy weather of picking up the point they needed against the Kazakhs in the rain in Reykjavik, with Iceland's cause not helped by the late dismissal of Aron Gunnarsson.

According to MisterChip on Twitter, "Iceland becomes the least populated (330,000 inhabitants) country to qualify for the Euros."

However, you can be sure their raucous fans will travel in great numbers to France next year.

Loser: Wales

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Wales remain on course to qualify for just their second major tournament despite being held 0-0 at home by Israel.

It proved to be a frustrating afternoon for Gareth Bale and his team-mates in Cardiff, Wales. They thought they had scored a late winner, only for Simon Church's goal to be correctly ruled out for offside.

All eyes then turned to Belgium's match in Cyprus. A draw would have been enough to send the Welsh to Euro 2016, but the Belgians kept them waiting with a late winner.

However, despite the double disappointment on Sunday, Wales' destiny is still in their own hands.

They need just a point from their final two fixtures, against Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 10 and then at home to lowly Andorra three days later.

Manager Chris Coleman said, per Dafydd Pritchard of BBC Sport, "The expectation was that we would win, but now we have to wait longer."

Winner: Belgium

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They left it late, but Belgium did just enough to win in Cyprus and keep themselves on course to qualify from Group B.

Eden Hazard struck the only goal of the game in the 86th minute in Nicosia, Cyprus, to move his nation to within a point of leaders Wales in the standings.

It was Hazard's 10th goal for his country, the Chelsea player sweeping home a cross with his left foot.

Belgium complete their qualifying campaign with games against Andorra and Israel, a run-in that makes them strong favourites to finish as one of the top two nations in the group.

Loser: Daniele De Rossi

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Daniele De Rossi should have been the hero for Italy after their 1-0 win over Bulgaria in Group H.

The AS Roma midfielder scored the only goal of the game, converting a twice-taken penalty in the early stages of the contest in Palermo, Italy.

However, the experienced De Rossi blotted his copybook in the second half, getting himself sent off for kicking out at Bulgaria's Ilijan Micanski, who was also given his marching orders following the incident.

Now the player will have to serve a suspension, which is hardly ideal for his nation ahead of the games against Azerbaijan and Norway.

His manager, Antonio Conte, offered a short response when asked about the red card, per Football Italia, "He shouldn’t do that.”