UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, 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.

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
Tournament details
Dates11 August 2010 – 15 November 2011
Teams51
Tournament statistics
Matches played248
Goals scored665 (2.68 per match)[note 1]
Top scorer(s) Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (12 goals)
UEFA European Qualifiers
UEFA European Championship

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 were paired for two-game play-offs, with the winner of each total goals tie qualifying for the finals. The two host countries completed the field of sixteen teams.

Qualified teams
  Qualified
  Did not qualify
  Did not enter
  Not a UEFA member
Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[upper-alpha 1]
 PolandCo-host18 April 20071 (2008)
 UkraineCo-host18 April 20070 (debut)
 Germany[upper-alpha 2]Group A winner2 September 201110 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 ItalyGroup C winner6 September 20117 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 NetherlandsGroup E winner6 September 20118 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 SpainGroup I winner6 September 20118 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 EnglandGroup G winner7 October 20117 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Russia[upper-alpha 3]Group B winner11 October 20119 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008)
 FranceGroup D winner11 October 20117 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 GreeceGroup F winner11 October 20113 (1980, 2004, 2008)
 DenmarkGroup H winner11 October 20117 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 SwedenBest runner-up11 October 20114 (1992, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 CroatiaPlay-off winner15 November 20113 (1996, 2004, 2008)
 Czech Republic[upper-alpha 4]Play-off winner15 November 20117 (1960, 1976, 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 PortugalPlay-off winner15 November 20115 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
 Republic of IrelandPlay-off winner15 November 20111 (1988)
  1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
  2. From 1972 to 1988, Germany competed as West Germany.
  3. From 1960 to 1988, Russia competed as the Soviet Union, and in 1992 as CIS.
  4. From 1960 to 1980, the Czech Republic competed as Czechoslovakia.

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).[1] Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:[2]

The 51 entrants were divided into the following six pots for the drawing of nine qualifying groups on 7 February 2010 in Warsaw, Poland:[3]

The countries which eventually qualified for the final tournament are emboldened in the table below.

Pot 1
TeamCoeffRank
 Spain (title holders)39,9641
 Germany38,2942
 Netherlands37,8213
 Italy35,8384
 England34,8195
 Croatia33,6776
 Portugal33,2267
 France32,5518
 Russia32,4779
Pot 2
TeamCoeffRank
 Greece31,26810
 Czech Republic30,87111
 Sweden30,69512
  Switzerland30,39513
 Serbia29,81114
 Turkey29,44715
 Denmark29,22216
 Slovakia28,22817
 Romania28,14518
Pot 3
TeamCoeffRank
 Israel28,05220
 Bulgaria27,19821
 Finland26,82722
 Norway26,21024
 Republic of Ireland25,97125
 Scotland25,64626
 Northern Ireland24,51827
 Austria24,38128
 Bosnia and Herzegovina24,36529
Pot 4
TeamCoeffRank
 Slovenia24,22130
 Latvia23,30331
 Hungary23,04832
 Lithuania22,07133
 Belarus21,51534
 Belgium21,42635
 Wales21,27436
 Macedonia19,40937
 Cyprus18,79138
Pot 5
TeamCoeffRank
 Montenegro18,75139
 Albania18,31940
 Estonia17,79241
 Georgia15,81942
 Moldova15,73443
 Iceland15,40444
 Armenia15,16445
 Kazakhstan14,73046
 Liechtenstein13,58147
Pot 6
TeamCoeffRank
 Azerbaijan13,50048
 Luxembourg11,87249
 Malta11,51750
 Faroe Islands10,62051
 Andorra09,19752
 San Marino07,78353

Notes

  • The co-hosts Ukraine and Poland, which qualified automatically, were ranked 19th (28,133) and 23rd (26,620) respectively.

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).[4]

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.[5]

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.[6]

  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) to 10) apply;
  6. superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. higher number of goals scored away from home in all group matches;
  9. fair play ranking in all group matches;
  10. drawing of lots.

Summary
  Group winners and the best ranked runner-up qualified directly for UEFA Euro 2012
  The remaining runners-up advanced to the play-offs
  Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage
Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H Group I

Germany
Russia
Italy
France
Netherlands
Greece
England
Denmark
Spain

Turkey
Republic of Ireland
Estonia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sweden
Croatia
Montenegro
Portugal
Czech Republic

Belgium

Austria

Azerbaijan

Kazakhstan
Armenia

Slovakia

Macedonia

Andorra
Serbia

Slovenia

Northern Ireland

Faroe Islands
Romania

Belarus

Albania

Luxembourg
Hungary

Finland

Moldova

San Marino
Israel

Latvia

Georgia

Malta
Switzerland

Wales

Bulgaria
Norway

Iceland

Cyprus
Scotland

Lithuania

Liechtenstein

Groups

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

  • 3–4 and 7 September 2010
  • 8–9 and 12 October 2010
  • 25–26 and 29 March 2011
  • 3–4 and 7 June 2011
  • 2–3 and 6 September 2011
  • 7–8 and 11 October 2011

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.

Group A
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 10 10 0 0 34 7 +27 30 Qualify for final tournament — 3–0 3–1 6–2 6–1 4–0
2  Turkey 10 5 2 3 13 11 +2 17 Advance to play-offs 1–3 — 3–2 2–0 1–0 2–1
3  Belgium 10 4 3 3 21 15 +6 15 0–1 1–1 — 4–4 4–1 4–1
4  Austria 10 3 3 4 16 17 −1 12 1–2 0–0 0–2 — 3–0 2–0
5  Azerbaijan 10 2 1 7 10 26 −16 7 1–3 1–0 1–1 1–4 — 3–2
6  Kazakhstan 10 1 1 8 6 24 −18 4 0–3 0–3 0–2 0–0 2–1 —
Source: UEFA

Group B
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Russia 10 7 2 1 17 4 +13 23 Qualify for final tournament — 0–0 3–1 0–1 1–0 6–0
2  Republic of Ireland 10 6 3 1 15 7 +8 21 Advance to play-offs 2–3 — 2–1 0–0 2–1 3–1
3  Armenia 10 5 2 3 22 10 +12 17 0–0 0–1 — 3–1 4–1 4–0
4  Slovakia 10 4 3 3 7 10 −3 15 0–1 1–1 0–4 — 1–0 1–0
5  Macedonia 10 2 2 6 8 14 −6 8 0–1 0–2 2–2 1–1 — 1–0
6  Andorra 10 0 0 10 1 25 −24 0 0–2 0–2 0–3 0–1 0–2 —
Source: UEFA

Group C
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group C
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Italy 10 8 2 0 20 2 +18 26 Qualify for final tournament — 3–0 3–0[lower-alpha 1] 1–0 3–0 5–0
2  Estonia 10 5 1 4 15 14 +1 16 Advance to play-offs 1–2 — 1–1 0–1 4–1 2–1
3  Serbia 10 4 3 3 13 12 +1 15 1–1 1–3 — 1–1 2–1 3–1
4  Slovenia 10 4 2 4 11 7 +4 14 0–1 1–2 1–0 — 0–1 5–1
5  Northern Ireland 10 2 3 5 9 13 −4 9 0–0 1–2 0–1 0–0 — 4–0
6  Faroe Islands 10 1 1 8 6 26 −20 4 0–1 2–0 0–3 0–2 1–1 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. The Italy v Serbia match was abandoned at 0–0 after six minutes due to rioting by Serbian fans. The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body awarded the match as a 3–0 forfeit win to Italy.[7]

Group D
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group D
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France 10 6 3 1 15 4 +11 21 Qualify for final tournament — 1–1 2–0 0–1 3–0 2–0
2  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 6 2 2 17 8 +9 20 Advance to play-offs 0–2 — 2–1 1–0 2–0 5–0
3  Romania 10 3 5 2 13 9 +4 14 0–0 3–0 — 2–2 1–1 3–1
4  Belarus 10 3 4 3 8 7 +1 13 1–1 0–2 0–0 — 2–0 2–0
5  Albania 10 2 3 5 7 14 −7 9 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 — 1–0
6  Luxembourg 10 1 1 8 3 21 −18 4 0–2 0–3 0–2 0–0 2–1 —
Source: UEFA

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

Group F
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group F
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Greece 10 7 3 0 14 5 +9 24 Qualify for final tournament — 2–0 2–1 1–0 1–1 3–1
2  Croatia 10 7 1 2 18 7 +11 22 Advance to play-offs 0–0 — 3–1 2–0 2–1 3–0
3  Israel 10 5 1 4 13 11 +2 16 0–1 1–2 — 2–1 1–0 3–1
4  Latvia 10 3 2 5 9 12 −3 11 1–1 0–3 1–2 — 1–1 2–0
5  Georgia 10 2 4 4 7 9 −2 10 1–2 1–0 0–0 0–1 — 1–0
6  Malta 10 0 1 9 4 21 −17 1 0–1 1–3 0–2 0–2 1–1 —
Source: UEFA

Group G
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group G
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  England 8 5 3 0 17 5 +12 18 Qualify for final tournament — 0–0 2–2 1–0 4–0
2  Montenegro 8 3 3 2 7 7 0 12 Advance to play-offs 2–2 — 1–0 1–0 1–1
3   Switzerland 8 3 2 3 12 10 +2 11 1–3 2–0 — 4–1 3–1
4  Wales 8 3 0 5 6 10 −4 9 0–2 2–1 2–0 — 0–1
5  Bulgaria 8 1 2 5 3 13 −10 5 0–3 0–1 0–0 0–1 —
Source: UEFA

Group H
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group H
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Denmark 8 6 1 1 15 6 +9 19 Qualify for final tournament — 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–0
2  Portugal 8 5 1 2 21 12 +9 16[lower-alpha 1] Advance to play-offs 3–1 — 1–0 5–3 4–4
3  Norway 8 5 1 2 10 7 +3 16[lower-alpha 1] 1–1 1–0 — 1–0 3–1
4  Iceland 8 1 1 6 6 14 −8 4 0–2 1–3 1–2 — 1–0
5  Cyprus 8 0 2 6 7 20 −13 2 1–4 0–4 1–2 0–0 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.

Group I
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 8 8 0 0 26 6 +20 24 Qualify for final tournament — 2–1 3–1 3–1 6–0
2  Czech Republic 8 4 1 3 12 8 +4 13 Advance to play-offs 0–2 — 1–0 0–1 2–0
3  Scotland 8 3 2 3 9 10 −1 11 2–3 2–2 — 1–0 2–1
4  Lithuania 8 1 2 5 4 13 −9 5 1–3 1–4 0–0 — 0–0
5  Liechtenstein 8 1 1 6 3 17 −14 4 0–4 0–2 0–1 2–0 —
Source: UEFA

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.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 E  Sweden 8 6 0 2 20 11 +9 18 Qualify for final tournament
2 H  Portugal 8 5 1 2 21 12 +9 16 Advance to play-offs
3 F  Croatia 8 5 1 2 12 6 +6 16
4 B  Republic of Ireland 8 4 3 1 10 6 +4 15
5 D  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 4 2 2 9 8 +1 14
6 I  Czech Republic 8 4 1 3 12 8 +4 13
7 C  Estonia 8 4 1 3 13 11 +2 13
8 G  Montenegro 8 3 3 2 7 7 0 12
9 A  Turkey 8 3 2 3 8 10 −2 11
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system; 6) Fair play ranking; 7) Drawing of lots.

Play-offs
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs

The eight remaining second-placed teams contested two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals. The teams were seeded for the play-off draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings updated after the completion of the qualifying group stage. The draw for the play-offs was held on 13 October 2011 in Kraków, Poland.[8]

Seedings

The seedings were as follows:[9]

Pot 1 (seeded)
TeamCoeffRank
 Croatia32.7237
 Portugal31.20211
 Republic of Ireland28.20313
 Czech Republic27.98215
Pot 2 (unseeded)
TeamCoeffRank
 Turkey27.60118
 Bosnia and Herzegovina27.19919
 Montenegro21.87635
 Estonia20.35537

Matches

The first legs were played on 11 November, and the second legs were played on 15 November 2011. The four play-off winners qualified for the final tournament.

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 665 goals scored in 248 matches, for an average of 2.68 goals per match.[note 1]

12 goals

9 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes
  1. The goal tally takes into account the original result of fixtures that were subsequently forfeited, not the awarded scoreline.

References
  1. Spain among top draw seeds UEFA
  2. National Team Coefficients Overview UEFA
  3. EURO 2012 qualifying draw in full UEFA
  4. Azerbaijan, Armenia not to be drawn together in Euro qualifiers Archived 15 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine News.Az, 11 December 2009
  5. Hiddink sad UEFA kept ex-Soviet states apart ESPN Soccernet, 7 February 2010
  6. "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010–12" (PDF). UEFA. September 2009. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  7. "UEFA decision on Italy-Serbia case". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  8. "Draw for the UEFA EURO 2012 play-offs". UEFA. 13 October 2011.
  9. "Seedings confirmed for EURO play-off draw". UEFA. 12 October 2011.
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