Belarus sealed their place at the 2012 Olympics by finishing third in the European Under-21 Championship, beating Czech Republic 1-0 in Aalborg.

The Czechs had enjoyed much of the play in the first half with Marek Suchy's long range drive and Adam Hlousek's free-kick coming close to opening the scoring before the latter had to leave the pitch with a broken nose.

But Belarus came to life in the second half and Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik was kept busy, first by Pavel Nekhaychik and then Maksim Skavysh from close range. Stanislav Dragun had two headed chances but could not convert as Belarus pushed on and almost broke the deadlock through Igor Filipenko's shot, which was deflected over.

Belarus goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor was also being tested and had to push substitute Libor Kozak's header against the post, but then Lukas Vacha received a second booking for handball in the 75th minute to hand them the advantage.

And, with two minutes left, Oleg Veretilo's low cross found Filipenko on the edge of the area and the defender's well-struck volley found the back of the net to give Belarus a ticket to the Olympic Games for the first time.