UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying

Qualification for
championships (UEFA)

Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 1996 final tournament, took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups. All teams played against each other, within their groups, in a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group along with the six best runners-up automatically qualified, while the two worst runners-up were involved in a play-off on a neutral ground. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.

This was the first time for the qualifying phase for the European Football Championship which awarded three points instead of two for a win .

Contents

Seedings

The draw was made on 22 January 1994

Pool 1 Pool 2 Pool 3
Pool 4 Pool 5 Pool 6

New entrants

New teams that joined UEFAs qualification games after the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA):

Groups

Group 1

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 1
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Romania 10 6 3 1 18 9 +9 21
 France 10 5 5 0 22 2 +20 20
 Slovakia 10 4 2 4 14 18 −4 14
 Poland 10 3 4 3 14 12 +2 13
 Israel 10 3 3 4 13 13 0 12
 Azerbaijan 10 0 1 9 2 29 −27 1
 
Azerbaijan  – 0–2 0–2 0–0 1–4 0–1
France  10–0 – 2–0 1–1 0–0 4–0
Israel  2–0 0–0 – 2–1 1–1 2–2
Poland  1–0 0–0 4–3 – 0–0 5–0
Romania  3–0 1–3 2–1 2–1 – 3–2
Slovakia  4–1 0–0 1–0 4–1 0–2 –

Group 2

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 2
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 10 8 2 0 25 4 +21 26
 Denmark 10 6 3 1 19 9 +10 21
 Belgium 10 4 3 3 17 13 +4 15
 Macedonia 10 1 4 5 9 18 −9 7
 Cyprus 10 1 4 5 6 20 −14 7
 Armenia 10 1 2 7 5 17 −12 5
 
Armenia  – 0–2 0–0 0–2 2–2 0–2
Belgium  2–0 – 2–0 1–3 1–1 1–4
Cyprus  2–0 1–1 – 1–1 1–1 1–2
Denmark  3–1 3–1 4–0 – 1–0 1–1
Macedonia  1–2 0–5 3–0 1–1 – 0–2
Spain  1–0 1–1 6–0 3–0 3–0 –

Group 3

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 3
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Switzerland 8 5 2 1 15 7 +8 17
 Turkey 8 4 3 1 16 8 +8 15
 Sweden 8 2 3 3 9 10 −1 9
 Hungary 8 2 2 4 7 13 −6 8
 Iceland 8 1 2 5 3 12 −9 5
 
Hungary  – 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–2
Iceland  2–1 – 0–1 0–2 0–0
Sweden  2–0 1–1 – 0–0 2–2
Switzerland  3–0 1–0 4–2 – 1–2
Turkey  2–0 5–0 2–1 1–2 –

Group 4

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 4
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Croatia 10 7 2 1 22 5 +17 23
 Italy 10 7 2 1 20 6 +14 23
 Lithuania 10 5 1 4 13 12 +1 16
 Ukraine 10 4 1 5 11 15 −4 13
 Slovenia 10 3 2 5 13 13 0 11
 Estonia 10 0 0 10 3 31 −28 0
 
Croatia  – 7–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 4–0
Estonia  0–2 – 0–2 0–1 1–3 0–1
Italy  1–2 4–1 – 4–0 1–0 3–1
Lithuania  0–0 5–0 0–1 – 2–1 1–3
Slovenia  1–2 3–0 1–1 1–2 – 3–2
Ukraine  1–0 3–0 0–2 0–2 0–0 –

Group 5

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 5
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Czech Republic 10 6 3 1 21 6 +15 21
 Netherlands 10 6 2 2 23 5 +18 20
 Norway 10 6 2 2 17 7 +10 20
 Belarus 10 3 2 5 8 13 −5 11
 Luxembourg 10 3 1 6 3 21 −18 10
 Malta 10 0 2 8 2 22 −20 2
 
Belarus  – 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–0 0–4
Czech Republic  4–2 – 3–0 6–1 3–1 2–0
Luxembourg  0–0 1–0 – 1–0 0–4 0–2
Malta  0–2 0–0 0–1 – 0–4 0–1
Netherlands  1–0 0–0 5–0 4–0 – 3–0
Norway  1–0 1–1 5–0 2–0 1–1 –

Group 6

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 6
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Portugal 10 7 2 1 29 7 +22 23
 Republic of Ireland 10 5 2 3 17 11 +6 17
 Northern Ireland 10 5 2 3 20 15 +5 17
 Austria 10 5 1 4 29 14 +15 16
 Latvia 10 4 0 6 11 20 −9 12
 Liechtenstein 10 0 1 9 1 40 −39 1
 
Austria  – 5–0 7–0 1–2 1–1 3–1
Latvia  3–2 – 1–0 0–1 1–3 0–3
Liechtenstein  0–4 0–1 – 0–4 0–7 0–0
Northern Ireland  5–3 1–2 4–1 – 1–2 0–4
Portugal  1–0 3–2 8–0 1–1 – 3–0
Republic of Ireland  1–3 2–1 4–0 1–1 1–0 –

Group 7

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 7
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Germany 10 8 1 1 27 10 +17 25
 Bulgaria 10 7 1 2 24 10 +14 22
 Georgia 10 5 0 5 14 13 +1 15
 Moldova 10 3 0 7 11 27 −16 9
 Albania 10 2 2 6 10 16 −6 8
 Wales 10 2 2 6 9 19 −10 8
 
Albania  – 1–1 0–1 1–2 3–0 1–1
Bulgaria  3–0 – 2–0 3–2 4–1 3–1
Georgia  2–0 2–1 – 0–2 0–1 5–0
Germany  2–1 3–1 4–1 – 6–1 1–1
Moldova  2–3 0–3 3–2 0–3 – 3–2
Wales  2–0 0–3 0–1 1–2 1–0 –

Group 8

Main article: UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Group 8
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Russia 10 8 2 0 34 5 +29 26
 Scotland 10 7 2 1 19 3 +16 23
 Greece 10 6 0 4 23 9 +14 18
 Finland 10 5 0 5 18 18 0 15
 Faroe Islands 10 2 0 8 10 35 −25 6
 San Marino 10 0 0 10 2 36 −34 0
 
Faroe Islands  – 0–4 1–5 2–5 3–0 0–2
Finland  5–0 – 2–1 0–6 4–1 0–2
Greece  5–0 4–0 – 0–3 2–0 1–0
Russia  3–0 3–1 2–1 – 4–0 0–0
San Marino  1–3 0–2 0–4 0–7 – 0–2
Scotland  5–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 5–0 –

Runners-up

The runners-up of each of the eight groups were placed in a table to decide which seven of them would qualify. The best six runners-up would qualify automatically, while the two worst would play-off on a neutral ground to determine the final qualifier. To determine the two worst runner-ups, a comparison was made between all of them. Only matches played against teams that finished first, third and fourth were regarded.

Legend
Countries that advanced to the final tournament
Countries that advanced to the play-off
Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
4  Italy 6 4 1 1 12 4 +8 13
7  Bulgaria 6 4 0 2 14 8 +6 12
3  Turkey 6 3 2 1 11 8 +3 11
8  Scotland 6 3 2 1 5 2 +3 11
2  Denmark 6 3 2 1 9 7 +2 11
1  France 6 2 4 0 8 2 +6 10
5  Netherlands 6 2 2 2 6 5 +1 8
6  Republic of Ireland 6 2 1 3 8 10 −2 7

Play-off

The bottom two runners-up took part in a play-off on a neutral ground to determine the final team to qualify.

13 December 1995
 Netherlands  2 – 0  Republic of Ireland Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance: 40,050
Referee: Vadim Zhuk (Belarus)
Kluivert  29', 88'

Notes

References

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