UEFA European Championship qualifying

This page is a summary of the UEFA European Championship qualifying, the process that UEFA-affiliated national association football teams go through in order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship.

Since 1960, European Championship final tournaments have been contested in the summer of every year that is divisible by 4. The qualifying procedure for each final tournament has usually included qualifying matches held during the two years preceding that year (for example, the Euro 2016 qualifying spanned from September 2014 to November 2015). In this article, the years correspond to the final tournaments of the European Championship, and not to the actual dates when the qualification matches were played.

Format evolution

Number of teams entering qualification
France
1960		 Spain
1964		 Italy
1968		 Belgium
1972		 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1976		 Italy
1980		 France
1984		 West Germany
1988		 Sweden
1992		 England
1996		 Belgium
Netherlands
2000		 Portugal
2004		 Austria
Switzerland
2008		 Poland
Ukraine
2012		 France
2016		 Europe
2020
total entrants 17 29 31 32 32 31 32 32 34 47 49 50 50 51 53 54
played at least one match 28 33
qualified through qualification 4 4 4 4 4 7 7 7 7 15 14 15 14 14 23 20
qualified through Nations League play-offs N/A 4
qualified automatically 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 0
total finalists 4 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8 16 16 16 16 16 24 24

The 1960 and 1964 qualifications consisted of a knock-out tournament only. The four quarter-final-winning teams would qualify for the final stages, and one of them would be chosen to be the host of the tournament.

The 1968, 1972, and 1976 qualifying tournaments included a group stage of eight groups. The eight group winners would advance to a quarter-final stage, which was still part of the qualifying. The four quarter-final winners would progress to the finals. Again, the host nation would be chosen among the four finalists.

From 1980 onwards, the hosting rights would be assigned in advance to one or two countries, and the host teams would be guaranteed an automatic spot in the finals and wouldn't have to go through qualification. Also, the format was expanded to feature 8 teams. The 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 qualifications included seven qualifying groups, and the seven group winners would progress to the finals joining the host team.

Note: Yugoslavia won their 1992 qualifying group and were due to compete at UEFA Euro 1992, but were banned from participating as the country was under international sanctions by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 because of the Yugoslav Wars.[1] The sanctions also resulted in the team being banned from entering the 1996 qualification. Denmark, who had originally failed to qualify for the 1992 finals finishing second in Yugoslavia's qualifying group, were invited to replace Yugoslavia in the finals. The legends and the footnotes explain how the tables below reflect this.

From 1996, the 16-team format was employed. The 1996 qualifying consisted of eight groups; the eight group winners and the six best runners-up would qualify directly, while the two worst runners-up would meet in a play-off to determine the last team to earn a spot in the finals, joining the host country.

In 2000, the winners of the nine qualifying groups would qualify for the finals, and so would the best runner-up. The remaining eight runners-up would enter a play-off round, where they would be paired off against each other; the winners of each pairing would qualify too. For the first time, there were two host countries; they both received automatic berths in the finals.

In 2004, along with the host team, the ten qualifying group winners would qualify, as would the winners of each of the five play-off ties which would be contested by the ten runners-up.

In 2008, the top two teams from each of the seven qualifying groups would join the two host teams to bring the number of finalists to 16.

The 2012 qualification used a format similar to that of 2000: spots would be given to nine group winners and the best runner-up, and the remaining eight runners-up would enter play-offs to determine the remaining four finalists, with automatic berths being guaranteed to the two host countries.

The 2016 finals will be contested by 24 teams for the first time. The host nation has qualified automatically. The 2016 qualifying included nine groups; the winners, the runners-up, and the best third-placed team would qualify, while the remaining eight third-placed teams would form four play-off pairings to determine the last four finalists.

For the 2020 finals, to be hosted by multiple cities across Europe, there will be no automatic qualifying berths, and the 2020 qualification will be linked with the inaugural 2018–19 edition of the newly-created UEFA Nations League. There will be ten qualifying groups for Euro 2020, and the winners and runners-up will qualify; then, the four winners (or the four best-placed teams not yet qualified for the Euro finals) of each of the four divisions of the Nations League will compete in the play-offs for that division, and the winners of the play-offs for each division will be allocated the remaining four remaining Euro 2020 places.

Participating teams

All national teams that are members of UEFA are eligible to enter the qualification for the European Championship. A total of 55 distinct teams have made attempts to qualify for the European Championship. One of them, East Germany, is now defunct, while the rest 54 are still active in the competition; a few of them have appeared under multiple incarnations (see the footnotes to the below table).

Year Teams debuting in the European Championship qualification Number
1960  Austria,  Bulgaria,  Czechoslovakia,[upper-alpha 1]  Denmark,  East Germany,[upper-alpha 2]  France,  Greece,  Hungary,  Norway,  Poland,  Portugal,  Republic of Ireland,  Romania,  Soviet Union,[upper-alpha 3]  Spain,  Turkey,  Yugoslavia[upper-alpha 4] 17
1964  Albania,  Belgium,  England,  Iceland,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  Malta,  Netherlands,  Northern Ireland,  Sweden,   Switzerland,  Wales 12
1968  Cyprus,  Finland,  Scotland,  West Germany[upper-alpha 5] 4
1972 none 0
1976 none 0
1980 none 0
1984 none 0
1988 none 0
1992  Faroe Islands,  San Marino 2
1996  Armenia,[upper-alpha 6]  Azerbaijan,[upper-alpha 6]  Belarus,[upper-alpha 6]  Croatia,[upper-alpha 7]  Estonia,[upper-alpha 6]  Georgia,[upper-alpha 6]  Israel,  Latvia,[upper-alpha 6]  Liechtenstein,  Lithuania,[upper-alpha 6]  Macedonia,[upper-alpha 7]  Moldova,[upper-alpha 6]  Slovakia,[upper-alpha 8]  Slovenia,[upper-alpha 7]  Ukraine[upper-alpha 6] 15
2000  Andorra,  Bosnia and Herzegovina[upper-alpha 7] 2
2004 none 0
2008  Kazakhstan[upper-alpha 6] 1
2012  Montenegro[upper-alpha 7] 1
2016  Gibraltar 1
Total 55

Footnotes

  1. ↑  Czechoslovakia was later succeeded by the  Czech Republic, which made its first appearance in 1996.
  2. ↑ East Germany entered the 1992 qualification, but withdrew before playing any matches, and since then competes as a part of the reunified Germany.
  3. ↑ The  Soviet Union completed the 1992 qualification, but was succeeded and replaced by the  Commonwealth of Independent States for the Euro 1992 finals. It was then succeeded by  Russia, which made its first appearance in 1996.
  4. ↑ The  Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was later succeeded by the  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which made its first appearance in 2000. It was renamed as  Serbia and Montenegro during the 2004 qualification. Serbia and Montenegro entered the 2008 qualification, but, before playing any matches, was succeeded and replaced by  Serbia.
  5. ↑  West Germany entered the 1992 qualification, but, before playing any matches, was succeeded and replaced by the reunified  Germany.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Ukraine previously competed as parts of the Soviet Union (1960–1992). All of them except Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania also competed in the Euro 1992 finals as parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovenia previously competed as parts of SFR Yugoslavia (1960–1992). Montenegro then competed as a part of FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro (2000–2004).
  8. ↑ Slovakia previously competed as a part of Czechoslovakia (1960–1992).

Overview

Team 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
 Albania DNE r16 3/3 4/4 DNE DNE 5/5 4/4 5/5 5/6 5/6 4/5 5/7 5/6 2/5
 Andorra 6/6 5/5 7/7 6/6 6/6
 Armenia 6/6 5/6 4/5 7/8 3/6 5/5
 Austria QF r16 3/4 2/4 3/4 2/5 3/5 3/4 4/5 4/6 3/5 3/5 Qhost 4/6 1/6
 Azerbaijan 6/6 5/6 5/5 8/8 5/6 5/6
 Belarus 4/6 5/5 5/5 4/7 4/6 4/6
 Belgium DNE pr 2/4 1/4+QW 1/4+QF 1/5 1/4 3/5 3/4 3/6 Qhost 3/5 5/8 3/6 1/6
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3/6 4/5 4/7 2/6+p 3/6+p
 Bulgaria r16 r16 1/4+QF 2/4 3/4 4/5 3/4 2/5 4/5 2/6 4/5 1/5 3/7 5/5 4/6
 Croatia 1/6 3/5 2/5+p 1/7 2/6+p 2/6
 Cyprus DNE 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/6 4/5 4/5 6/7 5/5 5/6
 Czech Republic (1996—)
 Czechoslovakia (1960–1992)		 QW pr 2/4 2/4 1/4+QW 1/4 3/5 2/4 2/5 1/6 1/6 1/5 1/7 2/5+p 1/6
 Denmark r16 QW 4/4 4/4 4/4 5/5 1/5 1/4 2/5
(inv) 		2/6 2/5+p 1/5 4/7 1/5 3/5+p
 East Germany r16 r16 2/4 3/4 2/4 3/5 3/4 2/5 wdr
 England DNE pr 1/4+QW 1/4+QF 2/4 1/5 2/5 1/4 1/4 Qhost 2/5+p 1/5 3/7 1/5 1/6
 Estonia 6/6 5/6 4/5 6/7 2/6+p 4/6
 Faroe Islands 5/5 5/6 6/6 5/5 7/7 6/6 5/6
 Finland DNE DNE 4/4 4/4 4/4 3/4 4/4 4/4 4/5 4/6 3/5 4/5 4/8 4/6 4/6
 France QW QF 1/4+QF 3/4 3/4 2/4 Qhost 3/5 1/5 2/6 1/6 1/5 2/7 1/6 Qhost
 Georgia 3/6 6/6 5/5 6/7 5/6 5/6
 Germany (1992—)
 West Germany (1968–1988)		 DNE DNE 2/3 1/4+QW 1/4+QW 1/4 1/5 Qhost 1/4 1/6 1/5 1/5 2/7 1/6 1/6
 Gibraltar 6/6
 Greece r16 wdr 2/4 3/4 2/4 1/4 3/5 2/5 3/5 3/6 3/6 1/5 1/7 1/6 6/6
 Hungary r16 QW 1/4+QF 1/4+QW 2/4 2/4 4/5 3/5 4/5 4/5 4/6 4/5 6/7 3/6 3/6+p
 Iceland DNE pr DNE DNE 4/4 5/5 4/5 4/5 4/5 5/5 4/6 3/5 6/7 4/5 2/6
 Israel 5/6 2/5+p 3/5 4/7 3/6 4/6
 Italy DNE r16 1/4+QW 1/4+QF 3/4 Qhost 4/5 1/5 2/5 2/6 1/5 1/5 1/7 1/6 1/6
 Kazakhstan 6/8 6/6 5/6
 Latvia 5/6 4/6 2/5+p 5/7 4/6 6/6
 Liechtenstein DNE DNE DNE DNE DNE 6/6 6/6 5/5 7/7 5/5 5/6
 Lithuania 3/6 4/6 4/5 5/7 4/5 5/6
 Luxembourg DNE QF 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 5/5 5/5 4/4 5/6 5/5 5/5 7/7 6/6 5/6
 Macedonia 4/6 4/5 4/5 5/7 5/6 6/6
 Malta pr DNE 4/4 4/4 4/4 5/5 5/5 5/5 6/6 5/5 5/5 7/7 6/6 6/6
 Moldova 4/6 5/5 4/5 5/7 5/6 6/6
 Montenegro 2/5+p 4/6
 Netherlands DNE r16 3/4 2/4 1/4+QW 1/5 2/5 1/5 1/5 2/6+p Qhost 2/5+p 2/7 1/6 4/6
 Northern Ireland DNE r16 4/4 3/4 2/4 2/5 2/5 3/4 3/5 3/6 4/5 5/5 3/7 5/6 1/6
 Norway r16 pr 4/4 4/4 4/4 5/5 4/4 5/5 3/5 3/6 1/6 2/5+p 3/7 3/5 3/6+p
 Poland r16 pr 3/4 2/4 2/4 2/5 3/4 4/5 3/4 4/6 3/5 3/5 1/8 Qhost 2/6
 Portugal QF pr 2/4 2/4 3/4 3/5 1/4 3/5 2/5 1/6 2/6 Qhost 2/8 2/5+p 1/5
 Republic of Ireland pr QF 3/4 4/4 2/4 3/5 3/5 1/5 2/4 2/6+p 2/5+p 3/5 3/7 2/6+p 3/6+p
 Romania QF pr 2/4 1/4+QF 2/4 3/4 1/5 2/4 3/5 1/6 1/6 3/5 1/7 3/6 2/6
 Russia (1996—)
 Soviet Union (1960–1992)		 QW QW 1/4+QW 1/4+QW 1/4+QF 4/4 2/4 1/5 1/5 1/6 3/6 2/5+p 2/7 1/6 2/6
 San Marino 5/5 6/6 5/5 5/5 7/7 6/6 6/6
 Scotland DNE DNE 2/4 3/4 3/4 4/5 4/4 4/5 1/5 2/6 2/6+p 2/5+p 3/7 3/5 4/6
 Serbia (2008—)
 Serbia and Montenegro (2004)
 FR Yugoslavia (2000–2004)
 SFR Yugoslavia (1960–1992)		 QW r16 1/3+QW 1/4+QF 1/4+QW 2/4 1/4 2/4 1/5
(dsq) 		susp 1/5 3/5 3/8 3/6 4/5
 Slovakia 3/6 3/6 3/5 4/7 4/6 2/6
 Slovenia 5/6 2/6+p 2/5+p 6/7 4/6 3/6+p
 Spain QF QW 1/4+QF 2/4 1/4+QF 1/4 1/5 1/4 3/5 1/6 1/5 2/5+p 1/7 1/5 1/6
 Sweden DNE QF 3/4 3/4 3/4 3/4 2/5 2/5 Qhost 3/5 1/5 1/5 2/7 2/6 3/6+p
  Switzerland DNE pr 3/4 2/4 4/4 4/5 2/4 4/5 2/5 1/5 3/5 1/5 Qhost 3/5 2/6
 Turkey r16 pr 4/4 3/4 3/4 2/4 4/5 4/4 4/4 2/5 2/5+p 2/5+p 2/7 2/6+p 3/6
 Ukraine 4/6 2/6+p 3/5 4/7 Qhost 3/6+p
 Wales DNE pr 3/4 3/4 1/4+QF 3/4 2/4 3/4 2/4 6/6 4/5 2/5+p 5/7 4/5 2/6
Team 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Key

Team records

Legend
Team has won the European Championship
Team has qualified for the main tournament
Team hasn't qualified for the main tournament
Team is defunct (and hasn't qualified for the main tournament)

Up to and including the Euro 2016 qualification.

Notes:

Team Total Successful[n 1] Appearances
in the finals[n 2]		 Pld W D L GF GA GD Points[n 3]
Qualifying attempts[n 4] Overall qualification record
 Spain 15 10 10 115 81 16 18 283 86 +197 259
 Czech Republic
 Czechoslovakia		 15 9 9 116 76 21 19 238 91 +147 249
 Russia
 Soviet Union		 15 11 11 120 73 29 18 235 86 +149 248
 Netherlands 13 8 9 109 71 15 23 250 85 +165 228
 Germany
 West Germany		 12 11 12 98 69 20 9 237 61 +176 227
 England 13 8 9 100 66 24 10 221 58 +163 222
 Italy 13 8 9 108 64 30 14 187 72 +115 222
 Romania 15 5 5 115 59 35 21 208 101 +107 212
 Portugal 14 6 7 107 61 24 22 194 101 +93 207
 France 13 7 9 102 59 26 17 206 85 +121 203
 Sweden 13 5 6 104 55 23 26 174 102 +72 188
 Serbia
 Serbia and Montenegro
 FR Yugoslavia
 SFR Yugoslavia		 14 6 5 104 55 25 24 186 109 +77 187
 Republic of Ireland 15 3 3 121 50 36 35 183 136 +47 186
 Denmark 15 7 8 115 53 26 36 185 139 +46 185
 Scotland 13 2 2 110 52 26 32 166 119 +47 182
 Hungary 15 3 3 121 52 26 43 197 161 +36 182
 Greece 14 4 4 109 52 22 35 158 122 +36 178
 Belgium 13 4 5 104 49 26 29 170 112 +58 173
 Bulgaria 15 2 2 113 49 26 38 157 120 +37 173
 Poland 14 2 3 100 44 27 29 164 110 +54 159
 Turkey 15 4 4 110 44 27 39 134 149 −15 159
 Austria 14 1 2 99 45 16 38 183 146 +37 151
 Norway 15 1 1 114 43 20 51 147 158 −11 149
 Northern Ireland 14 1 1 110 40 25 45 120 138 −18 145
 Wales 14 1 1 104 41 21 42 125 133 −8 144
  Switzerland 13 3 4 92 39 22 31 153 116 +37 139
 Croatia 6 5 5 62 40 14 8 118 39 +79 133
 Finland 13 0 0 104 27 24 53 109 162 −53 105
 Slovakia 6 1 1 60 28 10 22 94 77 +17 94
 Slovenia 6 1 1 66 25 14 27 83 80 +3 89
 Iceland 12 1 1 96 24 17 55 81 146 −65 89
 Israel 6 0 0 60 25 11 24 96 78 +18 86
 Ukraine 5 1 2 54 23 15 16 73 53 +20 84
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 0 0 54 22 10 22 74 76 −2 76
 Latvia 6 1 1 62 20 13 29 67 88 −21 73
 East Germany 8 0 0 46 20 12 14 76 57 +19 72
 Albania 12 1 1 91 16 22 53 72 159 −87 70
 Lithuania 6 0 0 58 20 8 30 50 83 −33 68
 Cyprus 13 0 0 104 16 14 74 83 268 −185 62
 Georgia 6 0 0 60 16 8 36 63 89 −26 56
 Belarus 6 0 0 58 14 12 32 49 87 −38 54
 Estonia 6 0 0 62 15 8 39 47 103 −56 53
 Armenia 6 0 0 58 12 12 34 51 85 −34 48
 Macedonia 6 0 0 58 11 14 33 59 90 −31 47
 Moldova 6 0 0 58 11 9 38 51 114 −63 42
 Luxembourg 14 0 0 109 7 10 92 44 303 −259 31
 Azerbaijan 6 0 0 60 6 9 45 36 147 −111 27
 Faroe Islands 7 0 0 68 6 6 56 40 182 −142 24
 Montenegro 2 0 0 20 6 5 9 17 23 −6 23
 Malta 13 0 0 102 3 14 85 49 288 −239 23
 Liechtenstein 6 0 0 58 5 7 46 19 176 −157 22
 Kazakhstan 3 0 0 34 4 7 23 24 63 −39 19
 San Marino 7 0 0 66 0 1 65 7 289 −282 1
 Gibraltar 1 0 0 10 0 0 10 2 56 −54 0
 Andorra 5 0 0 50 0 0 50 11 149 −138 0

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Includes Yugoslavia in 1992; excludes Denmark in 1992 (see above). Includes teams that are to participate in Euro 2016.
  2. ↑ Includes automatic qualifiers. Includes Denmark in 1992; excludes Yugoslavia in 1992 (see above). Includes teams that are to participate in Euro 2016.
  3. ↑ The three points for a win system is used. This column exists for comparison purposes only, and does not represent any official rankings.
  4. ↑ Excludes automatic qualifiers.

References

  1. ↑ "United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 (Implementing Trade Embargo on Yugoslavia)". University of Minnesota Human Rights Center. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. ↑ European Championship 1968, rsssf.com

External links

See also

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