UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

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The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held in Poland and Ukraine between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. 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)Netherlands Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (12 goals)
2008
2016

Two host countries qualified automatically. For the first qualifying round, there were nine groups. Six of these groups had six teams (one from pots 1 to 6 below); the remaining three groups consisted of five teams (one each from pots 1 to 5 below). The group competition was a double round robin: each team hosted a game with every other team in its group. Each group winner 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 (or away goals rule, or penalty shootout) qualifying for the finals to complete the field of sixteen teams.

Qualified teams

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Euro 2012 qualifiers
  Qualified
  Did not qualify
  Did not enter
  Not a UEFA member


Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in tournament[A]
  Poland Co-host 18 April 2007 1 (2008)
  Ukraine 0 (debut)
  Germany[B] Group A winner 2 September 2011 10 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
  Italy Group C winner 6 September 2011 7 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
  Netherlands Group E winner 6 September 2011 8 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
  Spain Group I winner 6 September 2011 8 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
  England Group G winner 7 October 2011 7 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
  Russia[C] Group B winner 11 October 2011 9 (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008)
  France Group D winner 11 October 2011 7 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
  Greece Group F winner 11 October 2011 3 (1980, 2004, 2008)
  Denmark Group H winner 11 October 2011 7 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
  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[D] 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. 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

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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][2][3] Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:[4]

The 51 entrants were divided into the following six pots for the drawing of nine qualifying groups on 7 February 2010 in Warsaw, Poland:[5]

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).[6]

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.[7]

Tiebreakers

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If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings.[8]

  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 had an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) was reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 6) to 10) applied;
  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

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  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

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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.[9][10][11]

Group A

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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

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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

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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[a] 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.[12] The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body awarded the match as a 3–0 forfeit win to Italy.[13]

Group D

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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[a] Advance to play-offs 3–1 1–0 5–3 4–4
3   Norway 8 5 1 2 10 7 +3 16[a] 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. ^ a b Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.

Group I

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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

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The highest ranked second placed team from the groups qualified automatically for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs. As six groups contain six teams and three with 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: Counting only matches against teams ranked first to fifth in the group, 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) UEFA national team coefficient ranking; 6) Lower disciplinary points total; 7) Drawing of lots.

Play-offs

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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.[14]

Seedings

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The seedings were as follows:[15]

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

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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.Tooltip Aggregate score 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

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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

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

References

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  1. ^ UEFA.com (5 February 2010). "Spain among top draw seeds | UEFA EURO". UEFA.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  2. ^ UEFA.com (2 December 2009). "UEFA EURO 2012™ Qualifying Draw | Inside UEFA". UEFA.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  3. ^ UEFA.com (20 September 2009). "UEFA EURO 2012™ qualifying draw procedure approved | UEFA EURO". UEFA.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  4. ^ "National Team Coefficients Overview" (PDF). UEFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2009.
  5. ^ "EURO 2012 qualifying draw in full". UEFA.
  6. ^ "Azerbaijan, Armenia not to be drawn together in Euro qualifiers". news.az. 11 December 2009. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009.
  7. ^ "Hiddink sad UEFA kept ex-Soviet states apart". ESPN Soccernet. 7 February 2010. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010.
  8. ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010–12" (PDF). UEFA. September 2009. pp. 6–7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  9. ^ Staff (25 March 2010). "England and Wales Euro 2012 qualifying fixtures announced". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  10. ^ Jackson, Jamie (25 March 2010). "England fans upset by decision to switch Euro 2012 games to a Friday". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  11. ^ UEFA.com (12 August 2010). "EURO qualifying to start in earnest | UEFA EURO". UEFA.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  12. ^ "Italy-Serbia match abandoned due to crowd trouble". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 12 October 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  13. ^ "UEFA decision on Italy-Serbia case". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  14. ^ "Draw for the UEFA EURO 2012 play-offs". UEFA. 13 October 2011.
  15. ^ "Seedings confirmed for EURO play-off draw". UEFA. 12 October 2011.
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