 Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales had each previously competed in the FIFA World Cup, while Albania and Iceland had never participated in a major tournament.Similarly, both Austria and Ukraine completed successful qualification campaigns for the first time, having only previously qualified as hosts (of 2008 and 2012 respectively).Scotland were the only team from the British Isles not to qualify for the finals, and 2004 champions Greece finished bottom in their group and failed to qualify for the first time since 2000.