UEFA European Championship qualifying

UEFA European Championship qualifying
Founded 1960
Region Europe (UEFA)
Number of teams 55
Related competitions FIFA World Cup qualification
Website Official website
UEFA Euro 2020 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 fourth year. 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[lower-alpha 1] 17293132323132323447495050515355
(expected)
played at least one match[lower-alpha 1] 2833
qualified through qualification 44444777715141514142324
qualified automatically 0000011111212210
total finalists 44444888816161616162424
  1. 1 2 Data is about qualifications only (automatic qualifiers are not counted).

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 would not 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 1992]

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.

From 2016, the finals format was expanded again, now featuring 24 teams. 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. The host nation qualified automatically.

Future changes

For the 2020 finals, to be hosted by multiple cities across Europe, there will be no automatic qualifying berths. 20 of the 24 qualifying places will go to the winners and runners-up of the ten qualifying groups for Euro 2020, just like before.

The new aspect is how the inaugural 2018–19 edition of the newly created UEFA Nations League will be linked with the 2020 qualification. Nations League features four leagues (divisions) of four groups each. The best-placed team in each group of a League not yet qualified for the Euro finals (the winners, unless already qualified) will form a four-team play-off for that division, using a knock-out system of semi-finals and a final. With four Leagues, the winner of each play-off will be allocated one of the four remaining places at Euro 2020.

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 entities have made attempts to qualify for the European Championship. Of those, 54 are still active in the competition. Due to political changes, a few of the entities have appeared under multiple incarnations (see the footnotes to the below table), and the East Germany team is now defunct.

Saarland, a former UEFA member, merged into West Germany in 1957 and therefore did not enter the qualifiers of any European Championships.

Kosovo, which joined UEFA in 2016, is yet to make its debut.

Year Teams debuting in the European Championship qualification No. CT
1960  Austria,  Bulgaria,  Czechoslovakia,[S 1]  Denmark,  East Germany,[P 1]  France,  Greece,  Hungary,  Norway,  Poland,  Portugal,  Republic of Ireland,  Romania,  Soviet Union,[S 2]  Spain,  Turkey,  Yugoslavia[S 3] 17 17
1964  Albania,  Belgium,  England,  Iceland,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  Malta,  Netherlands,  Northern Ireland,  Sweden,   Switzerland,  Wales 12 29
1968  Cyprus,  Finland,  Scotland,  West Germany[S 4] 4 33
1972 none 0 33
1976 none 0 33
1980 none 0 33
1984 none 0 33
1988 none 0 33
1992  Faroe Islands,  San Marino 2 35
1996  Armenia,[P 2]  Azerbaijan,[P 2]  Belarus,[P 2]  Croatia,[P 3]  Estonia,[P 2]  Georgia,[P 2]  Israel,  Latvia,[P 2]  Liechtenstein,  Lithuania,[P 2]  Macedonia,[P 3]  Moldova,[P 2]  Slovakia,[P 4]  Slovenia,[P 3]  Ukraine[P 2] 15 50
2000  Andorra,  Bosnia and Herzegovina[P 3] 2 52
2004 none 0 52
2008  Kazakhstan[P 2] 1 53
2012  Montenegro[P 3] 1 54
2016  Gibraltar 1 55
2020  Kosovo[P 3] (expected)

Successor teams inheriting the records of former teams (as considered by UEFA and FIFA):

  1. ↑  Czechoslovakia later dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and was succeeded by the  Czech Republic from the 1996 qualification onwards.
  2. ↑ After completing the 1992 qualification, the  Soviet Union dissolved into multiple countries, and was succeeded and replaced by the provisional  Commonwealth of Independent States team for the 1992 finals, which in turn was succeeded by  Russia from the 1996 qualification onwards.
  3. ↑ The  Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia later broke up into multiple countries, and was succeeded by the  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the 2000 qualification. The country was renamed as  Serbia and Montenegro during the 2004 qualification. It entered the 2008 qualification, but, before playing any matches, split into the countries of Serbia and Montenegro, and was succeeded and replaced by  Serbia.
  4. ↑  West Germany entered the 1992 qualification, but, before playing any matches, reunified with East Germany and was succeeded and replaced by the reunited nation of  Germany.

Teams competing as parts of other teams:

  1. ↑ East Germany entered the 1992 qualification, but withdrew before playing any matches, joined West Germany, and since then competes as part of the reunited nation of Germany.
  2. 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.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovenia previously competed as parts of SFR Yugoslavia (1960–1992). Kosovo and Montenegro then competed as parts of FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro (2000–2004). Kosovo then competed as part of Serbia (2008), before unilaterally declaring independence from it in February 2008 and eventually being admitted to UEFA in May 2016.
  4. ↑ Slovakia previously competed as part of Czechoslovakia (1960–1992).

Overview

Team 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
 Albania DNEr163/34/4DNEDNE5/54/45/56/65/64/55/75/62/5
 Andorra 6/65/57/76/66/6
 Armenia 6/65/64/57/83/65/5
 Austria QFr163/42/43/42/53/53/44/54/63/53/5Qhost 4/61/6
 Azerbaijan 6/65/65/58/85/65/6
 Belarus 4/65/55/54/74/64/6
 Belgium DNEpr2/41/4+QW1/4+QF1/51/43/53/43/6Qhost3/55/83/61/6
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3/64/54/72/6+p3/6+p
 Bulgaria r16r161/4+QF2/43/44/53/42/54/52/64/51/53/75/54/6
 Croatia 1/63/52/5+p1/72/6+p2/6
 Cyprus DNE4/44/44/44/45/55/55/55/64/54/56/75/55/6
 Czech Republic (1996—)
 Czechoslovakia (1960–1992)		 QWpr2/42/41/4+QW1/43/52/42/51/61/61/51/72/5+p1/6
 Denmark r16QW4/44/44/45/51/51/42/5
(inv)		2/62/5+p1/54/71/53/5+p
 East Germany r16r162/43/42/43/53/42/5wdr
 England DNEpr1/4+QW1/4+QF2/41/52/51/41/4Qhost2/5+p1/53/71/51/6
 Estonia 6/65/64/56/72/6+p4/6
 Faroe Islands 5/55/66/65/57/76/65/6
 Finland DNEDNE4/44/44/43/44/44/44/54/63/54/54/84/64/6
 France QWQF1/4+QF3/43/42/4Qhost3/51/52/61/61/52/71/6Qhost
 Georgia 3/66/65/56/75/65/6
 Germany (1992—)
 West Germany (1968–1988)		 DNEDNE2/31/4+QW1/4+QW1/41/5Qhost1/41/61/51/52/71/61/6
 Gibraltar 6/6
 Greece r16wdr2/43/42/41/43/52/53/53/63/61/51/71/66/6
 Hungary r16QW1/4+QF1/4+QW2/42/44/53/54/54/54/64/56/73/63/6+p
 Iceland DNEprDNEDNE4/45/54/54/54/55/54/63/56/74/52/6
 Israel 5/62/5+p3/54/73/64/6
 Italy DNEr161/4+QW 1/4+QF3/4Qhost 4/51/52/52/61/51/51/71/61/6
 Kazakhstan 6/86/65/6
 Kosovo
 Latvia 5/64/62/5+p5/74/66/6
 Liechtenstein DNEDNEDNEDNEDNE6/66/65/57/75/55/6
 Lithuania 3/64/64/55/74/55/6
 Luxembourg DNEQF4/44/44/44/45/55/54/45/65/55/57/76/65/6
 Macedonia 4/64/54/55/75/66/6
 Malta prDNE4/44/44/45/55/55/56/65/55/57/76/66/6
 Moldova 4/65/54/55/75/66/6
 Montenegro 2/5+p4/6
 Netherlands DNEr163/42/41/4+QW1/52/51/51/52/6+pQhost2/5+p2/71/64/6
 Northern Ireland DNEr164/43/42/42/52/53/43/53/64/55/53/75/61/6
 Norway r16pr4/44/44/45/54/45/53/53/61/62/5+p3/73/53/6+p
 Poland r16pr3/42/42/42/53/44/53/44/63/53/51/8Qhost2/6
 Portugal QFpr2/42/43/43/51/43/52/51/62/6Qhost 2/82/5+p1/5
 Republic of Ireland prQF3/44/42/43/53/51/52/42/6+p2/5+p3/53/72/6+p3/6+p
 Romania QFpr2/41/4+QF2/43/41/52/43/51/61/63/51/73/62/6
 Russia (1996—)
 Soviet Union (1960–1992)		 QWQW1/4+QW1/4+QW1/4+QF4/42/41/51/51/63/62/5+p2/71/62/6
 San Marino 5/56/65/55/57/76/66/6
 Scotland DNEDNE2/43/43/44/54/44/51/52/62/6+p2/5+p3/73/54/6
 Serbia (2008—)
 Serbia and Montenegro (2004)
 FR Yugoslavia (2000–2004)
 SFR Yugoslavia (1960–1992)		 QWr161/3+QW1/4+QF1/4+QW2/41/42/41/5
(dsq)		susp1/53/53/83/64/5
 Slovakia 3/63/63/54/74/62/6
 Slovenia 5/62/6+p2/5+p6/74/63/6+p
 Spain QFQW1/4+QF2/41/4+QF1/41/51/43/51/61/52/5+p1/71/51/6
 Sweden DNEQF3/43/43/43/42/52/5Qhost3/51/51/52/72/63/6+p
  Switzerland DNEpr3/42/44/44/52/44/52/51/53/51/5Qhost3/52/6
 Turkey r16pr4/43/43/42/44/54/44/42/52/5+p2/5+p2/72/6+p3/6
 Ukraine 4/62/6+p3/54/7Qhost 3/6+p
 Wales DNEpr3/43/41/4+QF3/42/43/42/45/64/52/5+p5/74/52/6
Team 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Key

  • golden background = Team completed a successful qualifying campaign. Excludes automatic qualifiers; includes Yugoslavia in 1992; excludes Denmark in 1992[Note 1992]
  • red font colour = Team participated in the final tournament. Includes automatic qualifiers; includes Denmark in 1992; excludes Yugoslavia in 1992[Note 1992]
  • Qhost = Team qualified automatically as host
  • QW = Team qualified for the final tournament as quarter-finals winner
  • QF = Team was eliminated in the quarter-finals
  • r16 = Team was eliminated in the round of 16
  • pr = Team was eliminated in the preliminary round
  • X/Y = Team came Xth in a qualifying group of Y teams
  • X/Y+QW = Team came Xth in a qualifying group of Y teams and then qualified for the final tournament as winner of a subsequent quarter-final
  • X/Y+QF = Team came Xth in a qualifying group of Y teams and then was eliminated in a subsequent quarter-final
  • X/Y+p = Team came Xth in a qualifying group of Y teams and then entered a play-off round
  • dsq = Team qualified for the finals but was disqualified from participating there (Yugoslavia in 1992)[Note 1992]
  • inv = Team was invited to participate in the finals after having originally failed to qualify (Denmark in 1992)[Note 1992]
  • grey background = Team did not take part in qualifying
    • (no caption) = Association was not a UEFA member
    • DNE = Team did not enter despite association being a UEFA member
    • wdr = Team entered but withdrew before playing any matches
    • susp = Team was suspended from taking part in qualifying (Yugoslavia in 1996)[Note 1992]

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 never qualified for the main tournament)

Up to and including the Euro 2016 qualification.

Notes on the below table:

  • Like the table at RSSSF's website,[1] this table does not take into account the Austria vs Greece Euro 1968 qualifying match. RSSSF reports that this match was abandoned at 1–1 and declared void, and does not include it in the final group standings.[2] On the other hand, however, UEFA's website accounts the match as having finished as a 1–1 draw[3] and includes it as such in the final group standings.[4]
  • The 1992 qualifying attempt is treated as successful for Yugoslavia and unsuccessful for Denmark, even though Yugoslavia did not appear in the 1992 finals while Denmark did.[Note 1992]
  • In the Euro 2016 qualification, Serbia were deducted 3 points and Croatia were deducted 1 point, which is reflected in the table.
No.[n 1] Team Qualifying attempts[n 2] Appearances
in the finals[n 3]		 Overall qualification record Points[n 4]
Total Successful Pld W D L GF GA GD Total Avg
1  Spain 15101011581161828386+1972592.252
2  Czech Republic
 Czechoslovakia		 159911676211923891+1472492.147
3  Russia
 Soviet Union		 15111112073291823586+1492482.067
4  Netherlands 138910971152325085+1652282.092
5  Germany
 West Germany		 121112986920923761+1762272.316
6  England 138910066241022158+1632222.220
7  Italy 138910864301418772+1152222.056
8  Romania 1555115593521208101+1072121.843
9  Portugal 1467107612422194101+932071.935
10  France 137910259261720685+1212031.990
11  Sweden 1356104552326174102+721881.808
12  Serbia
 Serbia and Montenegro
 FR Yugoslavia
 SFR Yugoslavia		 1465104552524186109+771871.798
13  Republic of Ireland 1533121503635183136+471861.537
14  Denmark 1578115532636185139+461851.609
15  Scotland 1322110522632166119+471821.655
16  Hungary 1533121522643197161+361821.504
17  Greece 1444109522235158122+361781.633
18  Belgium 1345104492629170112+581731.663
19  Bulgaria 1522113492638157120+371731.531
20  Poland 1423100442729164110+541591.590
21  Turkey 1544110442739134149−151591.445
22  Austria 141299451638183146+371511.525
23  Norway 1511114432051147158−111491.307
24  Northern Ireland 1411110402545120138−181451.318
25  Wales 1411104412142125133−81441.385
26   Switzerland 133492392231153116+371391.511
27  Croatia 655624014811839+791332.145
28  Finland 1300104272453109162−531051.010
29  Slovakia 611602810229477+17941.567
30  Slovenia 611662514278380+3891.348
31  Iceland 12119624175581146−65890.927
32  Israel 600602511249678+18861.433
33  Ukraine 512542315167353+20841.556
34  Bosnia and Herzegovina 500542210227476−2761.407
35  Latvia 611622013296788−21731.177
36  East Germany 800462012147657+19721.565
37  Albania 12119116225372159−87700.769
38  Lithuania 60058208305083−33681.172
39  Cyprus 130010416147483268−185620.596
40  Georgia 60060168366389−26560.933
41  Belarus 600581412324987−38540.931
42  Estonia 600621583947103−56530.855
43  Armenia 600581212345185−34480.828
44  Macedonia 600581114335990−31470.810
45  Moldova 600581193851114−63420.724
46  Luxembourg 14001097109244303−259310.284
47  Azerbaijan 60060694536147−111270.450
48  Faroe Islands 70068665640182−142240.353
49  Montenegro 200206591723−6231.150
50  Malta 13001023148549288−239230.225
51  Liechtenstein 60058574619176−157220.379
52  Kazakhstan 3003447232463−39190.559
53  San Marino 7006601657289−28210.015
54  Kosovo 00000000000—
55  Gibraltar 100100010256−5400.000
56  Andorra 50050005011149−13800.000

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored. Note that this column does not represent any official rankings.
  2. ↑ Only qualifying campaigns are counted where the team played at least one match.
  3. ↑ Including automatic qualifiers.
  4. ↑ The three points for a win system is used.

Notes

  1. Note 1992: 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.[5] 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. In the tables in this article, the 1992 qualifying campaign is treated as successful for Yugoslavia and unsuccessful for Denmark.

References

  1. ↑ "European Championship 1958-2008 All-Time Rankings. All-Time Table Qualifying Stages". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "European Championship 1968". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "UEFA EURO 1968 - History - Austria-Greece". UEFA. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "UEFA EURO 1968 - History - Standings". UEFA. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 (Implementing Trade Embargo on Yugoslavia)". University of Minnesota Human Rights Center. Retrieved 27 July 2014.

See also

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