UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Qualification for
championships (UEFA)

The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 is a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, to be held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 February 2010 in the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw, with matches set to take place between August 2010 and November 2011.[1]

There were nine groups. Six of these groups had six teams (one each from pots 1 to 6 below); the remaining three groups consisted of five teams (one each from pots 1 to 5 below). Group competition was a double round robin: each team hosted a game with every other team in its group. The first-place team in each group qualified, along with the second-place team with the most points against teams ranked in the top five in the group. The remaining eight second-place teams are paired for two-game play-offs, with the winner of each total goals tie qualifying for the finals. The two host countries complete the field of sixteen teams.

Contents

Qualified nations

Country Qualified as Date qualification was secured Previous appearances in tournament
 Poland Co-hosts 02007-04-18 18 April 2007 1 (2008)
 Ukraine Co-hosts 02007-04-18 18 April 2007 0 (Debut)
 Germany Group A winner 02011-09-02 2 September 2011 10 (1972,1 3 1976,3 1980,1 3 1984,3 1988,3 1992, 1996,1 2000, 2004, 2008)
 Russia Group B winner 02011-10-11 11 October 2011 9 (1960,1 4 1964,4 1968,4 1972,4 1988,4 1992,5 1996, 2004, 2008)
 Italy Group C winner 02011-09-06 6 September 2011 7 (1968,1 2 1980,2 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 France Group D winner 02011-10-11 11 October 2011 7 (1960,2 1984,1 2 1992, 1996, 2000,1 2004, 2008)
 Netherlands Group E winner 02011-09-06 6 September 2011 8 (1976, 1980, 1988,1 1992, 1996, 2000,2 2004, 2008)
 Greece Group F winner 02011-10-11 11 October 2011 3 (1980, 2004,1 2008)
 England Group G winner 02011-10-07 7 October 2011 7 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996,2 2000, 2004)
 Denmark Group H winner 02011-10-11 11 October 2011 7 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992,1 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Spain Group I winner 02011-09-06 6 September 2011 8 (1964,1 2 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 20081)
 Sweden Best runner-up 02011-10-11 11 October 2011 4 (1992,2 2000, 2004, 2008)
 Croatia Qualifying play-offs 02011-11-15 15 November 2011 3 (1996, 2004, 2008)
 Czech Republic Qualifying play-offs 02011-11-15 15 November 2011 7 (1960, 6 1976,1 6 1980, 6 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 Republic of Ireland Qualifying play-offs 02011-11-15 15 November 2011 1 (1988)
 Portugal Qualifying play-offs 02011-11-15 15 November 2011 5 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2 2008)
1 Bold indicates champion for that year
2 Italic indicates (co-)host for that year

Seedings

The pot allocations for the qualifying group stage draw were based on the UEFA national team coefficient rankings as of the end of 2009. The sole exception was the automatic placement of Spain, as reigning European champions, as the top-ranked team (their coefficient ranking would have also placed them in this position anyway).[2] Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:[3]

The 51 entrants were divided into the following six pots for the drawing of nine qualifying groups on 7 February 2010 in Warsaw, Poland:[4]

Pot 1
Rank Team Coeff
1  Spain (title holders) 39,964
2  Germany 38,294
3  Netherlands 37,821
4  Italy 35,838
5  England 34,819
6  Croatia 33,677
7  Portugal 33,226
8  France 32,551
9  Russia 32,477
Pot 2
Rank Team Coeff
10  Greece 31,268
11  Czech Republic 30,871
12  Sweden 30,695
13  Switzerland 30,395
14  Serbia 29,811
15  Turkey 29,447
16  Denmark 29,222
17  Slovakia 28,228
18  Romania 28,145
Pot 3
Rank Team Coeff
20  Israel 28,052
21  Bulgaria 27,198
22  Finland 26,827
24  Norway 26,210
25  Republic of Ireland 25,971
26  Scotland 25,646
27  Northern Ireland 24,518
28  Austria 24,381
29  Bosnia and Herzegovina 24,365
Pot 4
Rank Team Coeff
30  Slovenia 24,221
31  Latvia 23,303
32  Hungary 23,048
33  Lithuania 22,071
34  Belarus 21,515
35  Belgium 21,426
36  Wales 21,274
37  Macedonia 19,409
38  Cyprus 18,791
Pot 5
Rank Team Coeff
39  Montenegro 18,751
40  Albania 18,319
41  Estonia 17,792
42  Georgia 15,819
43  Moldova 15,734
44  Iceland 15,404
45  Armenia 15,164
46  Kazakhstan 14,730
47  Liechtenstein 13,581
Pot 6
Rank Team Coeff
48  Azerbaijan 13,500
49  Luxembourg 11,872
50  Malta 11,517
51  Faroe Islands 10,620
52  Andorra 9,197
53  San Marino 7,783
Notes

Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons, Armenia would not be drawn against Azerbaijan (due to the dispute concerning territory of Nagorno-Karabakh) and Georgia would not be drawn against Russia (due to the dispute regarding the territory of South Ossetia).[5] Armenia and Azerbaijan were drawn together in Group A during the draw ceremony, forcing UEFA to reassign Armenia to Group B, as Azerbaijan had refused to play in Armenia when they had been drawn together during UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying.[6]

Tiebreakers

As in Euro 2008 qualifying: If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.[7]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
  2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question
  5. If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two or more teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) will apply
  6. Results of all group matches:
    1. Superior goal difference
    2. Higher number of goals scored
    3. Higher number of goals scored away from home
    4. Fair play conduct
  7. Drawing of lots

Qualifying group stage

The following 18 dates were reserved for group matches in qualifying:

For the first time, Tuesday evenings replaced Wednesday evenings for midweek qualifying fixtures where two matchdays occurred in the same week. This was in order to allow players an extra day to return to their clubs for domestic duty the following week. Consequently, teams were permitted to move the earlier weekend match forward to the Friday evening.

Legend
Group winners and best runner-up among all groups directly qualified for the finals
The remaining eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs

Group A

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group A
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Germany 10 10 0 0 34 7 +27 30
 Turkey 10 5 2 3 13 11 +2 17
 Belgium 10 4 3 3 21 15 +6 15
 Austria 10 3 3 4 16 17 −1 12
 Azerbaijan 10 2 1 7 10 26 −16 7
 Kazakhstan 10 1 1 8 6 24 −18 4
 
Austria  — 3–0 0–2 1–2 2–0 0–0
Azerbaijan  1–4 — 1–1 1–3 3–2 1–0
Belgium  4–4 4–1 — 0–1 4–1 1–1
Germany  6–2 6–1 3–1 — 4–0 3–0
Kazakhstan  0–0 2–1 0–2 0–3 — 0–3
Turkey  2–0 1–0 3–2 1–3 2–1 —

Group B

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group B
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Russia 10 7 2 1 17 4 +13 23
 Republic of Ireland 10 6 3 1 15 7 +8 21
 Armenia 10 5 2 3 22 10 +12 17
 Slovakia 10 4 3 3 7 10 −3 15
 Macedonia 10 2 2 6 8 14 −6 8
 Andorra 10 0 0 10 1 25 −24 0
 
Andorra  — 0–3 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–1
Armenia  4–0 — 4–1 0–1 0–0 3–1
Macedonia  1–0 2–2 — 0–2 0–1 1–1
Republic of Ireland  3–1 2–1 2–1 — 2–3 0–0
Russia  6–0 3–1 1–0 0–0 — 0–1
Slovakia  1–0 0–4 1–0 1–1 0–1 —

Group C

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group C
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Italy 10 8 2 0 20 2 +18 26
 Estonia 10 5 1 4 15 14 +1 16
 Serbia 10 4 3 3 13 12 +1 15
 Slovenia 10 4 2 4 11 7 +4 14
 Northern Ireland 10 2 3 5 9 13 −4 9
 Faroe Islands 10 1 1 8 6 26 −20 4
 
Estonia  — 2–1 1–2 4–1 1–1 0–1
Faroe Islands  2–0 — 0–1 1–1 0–3 0–2
Italy  3–0 5–0 — 3–0 3–0* 1–0
Northern Ireland  1–2 4–0 0–0 — 0–1 0–0
Serbia  1–3 3–1 1–1 2–1 — 1–1
Slovenia  1–2 5–1 0–1 0–1 1–0 —

* The Italy v Serbia match was abandoned after six minutes due to rioting by Serbian fans.[8] The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body awarded the match as a 3–0 forfeit win to Italy.[9]

Group D

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group D
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 France 10 6 3 1 15 4 +11 21
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 6 2 2 17 8 +9 20
 Romania 10 3 5 2 13 9 +4 14
 Belarus 10 3 4 3 8 7 +1 13
 Albania 10 2 3 5 7 14 −7 9
 Luxembourg 10 1 1 8 3 21 −18 4
 
Albania  — 1–0 1–1 1–2 1–0 1–1
Belarus  2–0 — 0–2 1–1 2–0 0–0
Bosnia and Herzegovina  2–0 1–0 — 0–2 5–0 2–1
France  3–0 0–1 1–1 — 2–0 2–0
Luxembourg  2–1 0–0 0–3 0–2 — 0–2
Romania  1–1 2–2 3–0 0–0 3–1 —

Group E

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group E
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Netherlands 10 9 0 1 37 8 +29 27
 Sweden 10 8 0 2 31 11 +20 24
 Hungary 10 6 1 3 22 14 +8 19
 Finland 10 3 1 6 16 16 0 10
 Moldova 10 3 0 7 12 16 −4 9
 San Marino 10 0 0 10 0 53 −53 0
 
Finland  — 1–2 4–1 0–2 8–0 1–2
Hungary  0–0 — 2–1 0–4 8–0 2–1
Moldova  2–0 0–2 — 0–1 4–0 1–4
Netherlands  2–1 5–3 1–0 — 11–0 4–1
San Marino  0–1 0–3 0–2 0–5 — 0–5
Sweden  5–0 2–0 2–1 3–2 6–0 —

Group F

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group F
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Greece 10 7 3 0 14 5 +9 24
 Croatia 10 7 1 2 18 7 +11 22
 Israel 10 5 1 4 13 11 +2 16
 Latvia 10 3 2 5 9 12 −3 11
 Georgia 10 2 4 4 7 9 −2 10
 Malta 10 0 1 9 4 21 −17 1
 
Croatia  — 2–1 0–0 3–1 2–0 3–0
Georgia  1–0 — 1–2 0–0 0–1 1–0
Greece  2–0 1–1 — 2–1 1–0 3–1
Israel  1–2 1–0 0–1 — 2–1 3–1
Latvia  0–3 1–1 1–1 1–2 — 2–0
Malta  1–3 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 —

Group G

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group G
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 England 8 5 3 0 17 5 +12 18
 Montenegro 8 3 3 2 7 7 0 12
 Switzerland 8 3 2 3 12 10 +2 11
 Wales 8 3 0 5 6 10 −4 9
 Bulgaria 8 1 2 5 3 13 −10 5
 
Bulgaria  — 0–3 0–1 0–0 0–1
England  4–0 — 0–0 2–2 1–0
Montenegro  1–1 2–2 — 1–0 1–0
Switzerland  3–1 1–3 2–0 — 4–1
Wales  0–1 0–2 2–1 2–0 —

Group H

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group H
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Denmark 8 6 1 1 15 6 +9 19
 Portugal 8 5 1 2 21 12 +9 16
 Norway 8 5 1 2 10 7 +3 16
 Iceland 8 1 1 6 6 14 −8 4
 Cyprus 8 0 2 6 7 20 −13 2
 
Cyprus  — 1–4 0–0 1–2 0–4
Denmark  2–0 — 1–0 2–0 2–1
Iceland  1–0 0–2 — 1–2 1–3
Norway  3–1 1–1 1–0 — 1–0
Portugal  4–4 3–1 5–3 1–0 —

Group I

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 8 8 0 0 26 6 +20 24
 Czech Republic 8 4 1 3 12 8 +4 13
 Scotland 8 3 2 3 9 10 −1 11
 Lithuania 8 1 2 5 4 13 −9 5
 Liechtenstein 8 1 1 6 3 17 −14 4
 
Czech Republic  — 2–0 0–1 1–0 0–2
Liechtenstein  0–2 — 2–0 0–1 0–4
Lithuania  1–4 0–0 — 0–0 1–3
Scotland  2–2 2–1 1–0 — 2–3
Spain  2–1 6–0 3–1 3–1 —

Ranking of second-placed teams

The highest ranked second placed team from the groups qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs. As some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team count toward the purpose of the second-placed ranking table.

Tiebreakers
If two or more runners-up had an equal number of points from their eight matches contributing toward the ranking, then the following criteria were applied:

  1. Superior goal difference from these matches
  2. Higher number of goals scored in these matches
  3. Higher number of away goals scored in these matches
  4. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system
  5. Fair play ranking in these matches
  6. Drawing of lots

Final standings

Group Pld W D L GF GA GD AG Pts
E  Sweden 8 6 0 2 20 11 +9 8 18
H  Portugal 8 5 1 2 21 12 +9 8 16
F  Croatia 8 5 1 2 12 6 +6 5 16
B  Republic of Ireland 8 4 3 1 10 6 +4 4 15
D  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 4 2 2 9 8 +1 4 14
I  Czech Republic 8 4 1 3 12 8 +4 9 13
C  Estonia 8 4 1 3 13 11 +2 7 13
G  Montenegro 8 3 3 2 7 7 0 2 12
A  Turkey 8 3 2 3 8 10 −2 1 11
Legend
Qualified for the UEFA Euro 2012 finals
Advanced to the qualifying play-offs

Qualifying play-offs

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs

The play-off ties were played over two legs, with the first legs on 11 November and the second legs on 15 November 2011. The four winners are found according to the standard rules for the knockout phase in European competitions, and the winners qualified for the Euro 2012 tournament.

Seedings

The draw for the play-offs was held on 13 October 2011 in Kraków, Poland, to determine the four pairings as well as the order of the home and away ties.[10]

After the controversy caused by the UEFA play-offs during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying – which was widely assumed to be an unseeded draw and then later seeded by FIFA – UEFA stated from the outset that the draw for the play-offs would be seeded.[7] The four runners-up with the best positions in the UEFA team coefficient ranking system were therefore seeded.

Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:[11]

The seedings were as follows:[12]

Pot 1 (seeded)
Team Coeff Rank
 Croatia 32.723 7
 Portugal 31.202 11
 Republic of Ireland 28.203 13
 Czech Republic 27.982 15
Pot 2 (unseeded)
Team Coeff Rank
 Turkey 27.601 18
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 27.199 19
 Montenegro 21.876 35
 Estonia 20.355 37

Matches

Team 1 was home team in the first game, and guest team in the second game.

Team 1   Agg.   Team 2   1st leg     2nd leg  
Turkey  0–3  Croatia 0–3 0–0
Estonia  1–5  Republic of Ireland 0–4 1–1
Czech Republic  3–0  Montenegro 2–0 1–0
Bosnia and Herzegovina  2–6  Portugal 0–0 2–6

Goalscorers

There were 636 goals scored by 339 different players and 17 own goals.[13] This list reflects the top 15 players or those tied in the top 15.

12 goals
9 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals

Attendances

As of 11 October 2011 (2011 -10-11)

Data compiled from soccerway.com.

Host team Highest Lowest Total Average
 Albania 15,600 3,000 56,646 11,329
 Andorra 1,100 550 4,110 822
 Armenia 14,403 8,500 57,903 11,581
 Austria 47,500 22,500 189,000 37,800
 Azerbaijan 29,858 6,000 83,770 16,754
 Belarus 28,500 7,000 97,854 19,571
 Belgium 44,185 24,231 174,285 34,857
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 28,000 9,000 74,000 14,800
 Bulgaria 27,230 1,672 47,972 11,993
 Croatia 28,000 8,370 83,457 16,691
 Cyprus 15,444 2,088 27,588 6,897
 Czech Republic 17,873 6,600 51,433 12,858
 Denmark 37,167 15,544 108,631 27,158
 England 84,459 73,426 308,464 77,116
 Estonia 8,660 5,185 33,637 6,727
 Faroe Islands 5,654 974 12,111 2,422
 Finland 23,257 8,192 80,617 16,123
 France 79,299 24,710 324,110 64,822
 Georgia 54,500 7,824 160,746 32,149
 Germany 74,244 43,751 267,640 53,528
 Greece 27,200 13,520 87,195 17,439
 Hungary 25,169 9,209 93,091 18,618
 Iceland 9,767 5,267 28,800 7,200
 Israel 33,421 10,801 88,403 17,681
 Italy 19,480 18,000 76,180 19,045
 Kazakhstan 18,000 8,500 63,300 12,660
 Latvia 7,600 4,315 27,807 5,561
 Liechtenstein 6,100 1,886 16,177 4,044
 Lithuania 9,180 3,500 21,928 5,482
 Luxembourg 8,052 1,857 22,180 4,436
 Macedonia 29,500 4,100 58,100 11,620
 Malta 10,605 2,614 30,624 6,125
 Moldova 10,500 6,534 48,334 9,667
 Montenegro 11,500 7,442 41,032 10,258
 Netherlands 51,700 25,000 204,926 40,985
 Northern Ireland 15,200 12,604 70,335 14,067
 Norway 24,828 13,490 85,234 21,309
 Portugal 47,829 9,100 119,761 29,940
 Republic of Ireland 51,650 33,200 256,029 42,915
 Romania 49,137 8,200 113,723 22,745
 Russia 49,515 18,000 164,385 32,877
 San Marino 4,127 714 10,920 2,184
 Scotland 51,564 34,071 174,007 43,502
 Serbia 35,000 350 78,878 15,776
 Slovakia 10,892 4,300 38,497 7,699
 Slovenia 15,790 9,848 68,868 13,774
 Spain 27,559 15,660 76,320 19,080
 Sweden 33,066 21,083 144,125 28,825
 Switzerland 37,500 16,880 100,377 25,094
 Turkey 49,532 32,174 213,420 42,684
 Wales 68,959 8,194 103,531 25,883

References

  1. ^ Match details and dates UEFA
  2. ^ Spain among top draw seeds UEFA
  3. ^ National Team Coefficients Overview UEFA
  4. ^ EURO 2012 qualifying draw in full UEFA
  5. ^ Azerbaijan, Armenia not to be drawn together in Euro qualifiers News.Az, 11 December 2009
  6. ^ Hiddink sad UEFA kept ex-Soviet states apart ESPN Soccernet, 7 February 2010
  7. ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010–12" (PDF). UEFA. September 2009. pp. 6–7. http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/competitions/euro/91/87/57/918757_download.pdf. Retrieved 3 September 2010. 
  8. ^ Italy-Serbia match abandoned due to crowd trouble
  9. ^ UEFA statement on Italy-Serbia case
  10. ^ "Draw for the UEFA EURO 2012 play-offs". UEFA. 13 October 2011. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/news/newsid=1695932.html. 
  11. ^ "National Team Coefficient Ranking". UEFA. 12 October 2011. http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/General/01/69/56/52/1695652_DOWNLOAD.pdf. 
  12. ^ "Seedings confirmed for EURO play-off draw". UEFA. 12 October 2011. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/news/newsid=1695380.html. 
  13. ^ UEFA EURO 2012 Statistics – Qualifying Phase – Goals scored

External links

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