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.^[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 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 — directly

  Qualified — after Play offs

  Did not qualify — Play offs

  Did not qualify — First Round

  Did not enter

  Not a UEFA member

Country	Qualified as	Date qualification was secured	Previous appearances in tournament^1 ^2
Poland	Co-hosts	18 April 2007	1 (2008)
Ukraine	Co-hosts	18 April 2007	0 (debut)
Germany^3	Group A winner	2 September 2011	10 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Russia^4	Group B winner	11 October 2011	9 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008)
Italy	Group C winner	6 September 2011	7 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
France	Group D winner	11 October 2011	7 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Netherlands	Group E winner	6 September 2011	8 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Greece	Group F winner	11 October 2011	3 (1980, 2004, 2008)
England	Group G winner	7 October 2011	7 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Denmark	Group H winner	11 October 2011	7 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Spain	Group I winner	6 September 2011	8 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Sweden	Best runner-up	11 October 2011	4 (1992, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Croatia	Play-off winner	15 November 2011	3 (1996, 2004, 2008)
Czech Republic^5	Play-off winner	15 November 2011	7 (1960, 1976, 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Portugal	Play-off winner	15 November 2011	5 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Republic of Ireland	Play-off winner	15 November 2011	1 (1988)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

² Italics indicate (co-)host for that year

³ from 1972-88, Germany competed in the European Championship final tournament as West Germany

⁴ from 1960-88, Russia competed in the European Championship final tournament as the Soviet Union and in 1992 as the Commonwealth of Independent States

⁵ from 1960-92, Czech Republic competed in the European Championship final tournament 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).^[2] Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:^[3]

• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage.
• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stage and final tournament.
• 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and final tournament.

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]

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

Pot 1 Team Coeff Rank  Spain (title holders) 39,964 1  Germany 38,294 2  Netherlands 37,821 3  Italy 35,838 4  England 34,819 5  Croatia 33,677 6  Portugal 33,226 7  France 32,551 8  Russia 32,477 9	Pot 2 Team Coeff Rank  Greece 31,268 10  Czech Republic 30,871 11  Sweden 30,695 12   Switzerland 30,395 13  Serbia 29,811 14  Turkey 29,447 15  Denmark 29,222 16  Slovakia 28,228 17  Romania 28,145 18	Pot 3 Team Coeff Rank  Israel 28,052 20  Bulgaria 27,198 21  Finland 26,827 22  Norway 26,210 24  Republic of Ireland 25,971 25  Scotland 25,646 26  Northern Ireland 24,518 27  Austria 24,381 28  Bosnia and Herzegovina 24,365 29
Pot 4 Team Coeff Rank  Slovenia 24,221 30  Latvia 23,303 31  Hungary 23,048 32  Lithuania 22,071 33  Belarus 21,515 34  Belgium 21,426 35  Wales 21,274 36  Macedonia 19,409 37  Cyprus 18,791 38	Pot 5 Team Coeff Rank  Montenegro 18,751 39  Albania 18,319 40  Estonia 17,792 41  Georgia 15,819 42  Moldova 15,734 43  Iceland 15,404 44  Armenia 15,164 45  Kazakhstan 14,730 46  Liechtenstein 13,581 47	Pot 6 Team Coeff Rank  Azerbaijan 13,500 48  Luxembourg 11,872 49  Malta 11,517 50  Faroe Islands 10,620 51  Andorra 09,197 52  San Marino 07,783 53

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).^[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

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) 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

  Winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified directly for the UEFA Euro 2012

  The Runners-up advanced to the second round (play-offs)

  Other teams were eliminated after the first round

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.

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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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

Team 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	Team	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

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

Zbigniew Boniek during the draw

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]

• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying group stage.
• 40% of the average ranking points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and final tournament.
• 20% of the average ranking points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stage and final tournament.

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

Top 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

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

9 goals

• Miroslav Klose

7 goals

Cristiano Ronaldo Mikael Forssell

Robbie Keane

David Villa

6 goals

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Konstantin Vassiljev Mario Gómez

Gergely Rudolf Antonio Cassano

Dirk Kuyt Robin van Persie

5 goals

Gevorg Ghazaryan Marvin Ogunjimi Mesut Özil

Hélder Postiga Nani Adrian Mutu

Tim Matavž Zlatan Ibrahimović

Attendances

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. "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010–12" (PDF). UEFA. September 2009. pp. 6–7. 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.
11. "National Team Coefficient Ranking" (PDF). UEFA. 12 October 2011.
12. "Seedings confirmed for EURO play-off draw". UEFA. 12 October 2011.
13. UEFA EURO 2012 Statistics – Qualifying Phase – Goals scored

External links

• UEFA EURO 2012 at UEFA.com