The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe 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.

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

Euro 2012 qualifiersQualified Did not qualify Did not enter Not a UEFA member
TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in tournament
PolandCo-host18 April 20071 (2008)
Ukraine0 (debut)
GermanyGroup 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)
RussiaGroup 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 RepublicPlay-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)

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). Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:

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

Pot 1
TeamCoeffRank
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 9Pot 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 18Pot 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
Spain (title holders)39,9641
Germany38,2942
Netherlands37,8213
Italy35,8384
England34,8195
Croatia33,6776
Portugal33,2267
France32,5518
Russia32,4779
TeamCoeffRank
Greece31,26810
Czech Republic30,87111
Sweden30,69512
Switzerland30,39513
Serbia29,81114
Turkey29,44715
Denmark29,22216
Slovakia28,22817
Romania28,14518
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 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 38Pot 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 47Pot 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
TeamCoeffRank
Slovenia24,22130
Latvia23,30331
Hungary23,04832
Lithuania22,07133
Belarus21,51534
Belgium21,42635
Wales21,27436
Macedonia19,40937
Cyprus18,79138
TeamCoeffRank
Montenegro18,75139
Albania18,31940
Estonia17,79241
Georgia15,81942
Moldova15,73443
Iceland15,40444
Armenia15,16445
Kazakhstan14,73046
Liechtenstein13,58147
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).

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.

Tiebreakers

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

  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

Group AGroup BGroup CGroup DGroup EGroup FGroup GGroup HGroup I
GermanyRussiaItalyFranceNetherlandsGreeceEnglandDenmarkSpain
TurkeyRepublic of IrelandEstoniaBosnia and HerzegovinaSwedenCroatiaMontenegroPortugalCzech Republic
Belgium Austria Azerbaijan KazakhstanArmenia Slovakia Macedonia AndorraSerbia Slovenia Northern Ireland Faroe IslandsRomania Belarus Albania LuxembourgHungary Finland Moldova San MarinoIsrael Latvia Georgia MaltaSwitzerland Wales BulgariaNorway Iceland CyprusScotland 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

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationGermany national football teamTurkey national football teamBelgium national football teamAustria national football teamAzerbaijan national football teamKazakhstan national football team
1Germany101000347+2730Qualify for final tournament—3–03–16–26–14–0
2Turkey105231311+217Advance to play-offs1–3—3–22–01–02–1
3Belgium104332115+6150–11–1—4–44–14–1
4Austria103341617−1121–20–00–2—3–02–0
5Azerbaijan102171026−1671–31–01–11–4—3–2
6Kazakhstan10118624−1840–30–30–20–02–1—

Group B

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationRussia national football teamRepublic of Ireland national football teamArmenia national football teamSlovakia national football teamNorth Macedonia national football teamAndorra national football team
1Russia10721174+1323Qualify for final tournament—0–03–10–11–06–0
2Republic of Ireland10631157+821Advance to play-offs2–3—2–10–02–13–1
3Armenia105232210+12170–00–1—3–14–14–0
4Slovakia10433710−3150–11–10–4—1–01–0
5Macedonia10226814−680–10–22–21–1—1–0
6Andorra100010125−2400–20–20–30–10–2—

Group C

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationItaly national football teamEstonia national football teamSerbia national football teamSlovenia national football teamNorthern Ireland national football teamFaroe Islands national football team
1Italy10820202+1826Qualify for final tournament—3–03–01–03–05–0
2Estonia105141514+116Advance to play-offs1–2—1–10–14–12–1
3Serbia104331312+1151–11–3—1–12–13–1
4Slovenia10424117+4140–11–21–0—0–15–1
5Northern Ireland10235913−490–01–20–10–0—4–0
6Faroe Islands10118626−2040–12–00–30–21–1—

Group D

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationFrance national football teamBosnia and Herzegovina national football teamRomania national football teamBelarus national football teamAlbania national football teamLuxembourg national football team
1France10631154+1121Qualify for final tournament—1–12–00–13–02–0
2Bosnia and Herzegovina10622178+920Advance to play-offs0–2—2–11–02–05–0
3Romania10352139+4140–03–0—2–21–13–1
4Belarus1034387+1131–10–20–0—2–02–0
5Albania10235714−791–21–11–11–0—1–0
6Luxembourg10118321−1840–20–30–20–02–1—

Group E

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationNetherlands national football teamSweden men's national football teamHungary national football teamFinland national football teamMoldova national football teamSan Marino national football team
1Netherlands10901378+2927Qualify for final tournament—4–15–32–11–011–0
2Sweden108023111+20243–2—2–05–02–16–0
3Hungary106132214+8190–42–1—0–02–18–0
4Finland1031616160100–21–21–2—4–18–0
5Moldova103071216−490–11–40–22–0—4–0
6San Marino100010053−5300–50–50–30–10–2—

Group F

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationGreece national football teamCroatia national football teamIsrael national football teamLatvia national football teamGeorgia national football teamMalta national football team
1Greece10730145+924Qualify for final tournament—2–02–11–01–13–1
2Croatia10712187+1122Advance to play-offs0–0—3–12–02–13–0
3Israel105141311+2160–11–2—2–11–03–1
4Latvia10325912−3111–10–31–2—1–12–0
5Georgia1024479−2101–21–00–00–1—1–0
6Malta10019421−1710–11–30–20–21–1—

Group G

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationEngland national football teamMontenegro national football teamSwitzerland national football teamWales national football teamBulgaria national football team
1England8530175+1218Qualify for final tournament—0–02–21–04–0
2Montenegro833277012Advance to play-offs2–2—1–01–01–1
3Switzerland83231210+2111–32–0—4–13–1
4Wales8305610−490–22–12–0—0–1
5Bulgaria8125313−1050–30–10–00–1—

Group H

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationDenmark national football teamPortugal national football teamNorway national football teamIceland national football teamCyprus national football team
1Denmark8611156+919Qualify for final tournament—2–12–01–02–0
2Portugal85122112+916Advance to play-offs3–1—1–05–34–4
3Norway8512107+3161–11–0—1–03–1
4Iceland8116614−840–21–31–2—1–0
5Cyprus8026720−1321–40–41–20–0—

Group I

PosTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualificationSpain national football teamCzech Republic national football teamScotland national football teamLithuania national football teamLiechtenstein national football team
1Spain8800266+2024Qualify for final tournament—2–13–13–16–0
2Czech Republic8413128+413Advance to play-offs0–2—1–00–12–0
3Scotland8323910−1112–32–2—1–02–1
4Lithuania8125413−951–31–40–0—0–0
5Liechtenstein8116317−1440–40–20–12–0—

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 six groups contained 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 counted toward the purpose of the second-placed ranking table.

PosGrpTeamvtePldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1ESweden86022011+918Qualify for final tournament
2HPortugal85122112+916Advance to play-offs
3FCroatia8512126+616
4BRepublic of Ireland8431106+415
5DBosnia and Herzegovina842298+114
6ICzech Republic8413128+413
7CEstonia84131311+213
8GMontenegro833277012
9ATurkey8323810−211

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.

Seedings

The seedings were as follows:

Pot 1 (seeded)
TeamCoeffRank
Pot 1 (seeded) Team Coeff Rank Croatia 32.723 7 Portugal 31.202 11 Republic of Ireland 28.203 13 Czech Republic 27.982 15Pot 2 (unseeded) Team Coeff Rank Turkey 27.601 18 Bosnia and Herzegovina 27.199 19 Montenegro 21.876 35 Estonia 20.355 37
Croatia32.7237
Portugal31.20211
Republic of Ireland28.20313
Czech Republic27.98215
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 1Agg.Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Turkey0–3Croatia0–30–0
Estonia1–5Republic of Ireland0–41–1
Czech Republic3–0Montenegro2–01–0
Bosnia and Herzegovina2–6Portugal0–02–6

Goalscorers

There were 665 goals scored in 248 matches, for an average of 2.68 goals per match.

12 goals

9 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

External links

  • at UEFA.com