UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

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

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

Qualified nations

Country	Qualified as	Date qualification was secured	Previous appearances in tournament
Poland	Co-hosts	18 April 2007	1 (2008)
Ukraine	Co-hosts	18 April 2007	0 (Debut)
Germany	Group A winner	2 September 2011	10 (1972,1 3 1976,3 1980,1 3 1984,3 1988,3 1992, 1996,1 2000, 2004, 2008)
Russia	Group B winner	11 October 2011	9 (1960,1 4 1964,4 1968,4 1972,4 1988,4 1992,5 1996, 2004, 2008)
Italy	Group C winner	6 September 2011	7 (1968,1 2 1980,2 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
France	Group D winner	11 October 2011	7 (1960,2 1984,1 2 1992, 1996, 2000,1 2004, 2008)
Netherlands	Group E winner	6 September 2011	8 (1976, 1980, 1988,1 1992, 1996, 2000,2 2004, 2008)
Greece	Group F winner	11 October 2011	3 (1980, 2004,1 2008)
England	Group G winner	7 October 2011	7 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996,2 2000, 2004)
Denmark	Group H winner	11 October 2011	7 (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992,1 1996, 2000, 2004)
Spain	Group I winner	6 September 2011	8 (1964,1 2 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, 20081)
Sweden	Best runner-up	11 October 2011	4 (1992,2 2000, 2004, 2008)
Croatia	Qualified play-offs	15 November 2011	3 (1996, 2004, 2008)
Czech Republic	Qualified play-offs	15 November 2011	7 (1960, 6 1976,1 6 1980, 6 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)
Republic of Ireland	Qualified play-offs	15 November 2011	1 (1988)
Portugal	Qualified play-offs	15 November 2011	5 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2 2008)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year

² Italic indicates (co-)host for that year

³ as West Germany

⁴ as Soviet Union

⁵ as Commonwealth of Independent States

⁶ 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). Each nation's coefficient was generated by calculating:

• 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:

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

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

As in Euro 2008 qualifying: If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are 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 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) and 7) will apply
6. Results of all group matches:
   1. Superior goal difference
   2. Higher number of goals scored
   3. Higher number of goals scored away from home
   4. Fair play conduct
7. Drawing of lots

Qualifying group stage

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

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group A

Group B

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group B

Group C

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group C

Group D

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group D

Group E

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group E

Group F

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group F

Group G

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group G

Group H

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group H

Group I

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I

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.

Qualifying play-offs

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying 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.

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. 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:

• 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:

Pot 1 (seeded) Team Coeff Croatia 32.723 Portugal 31.202 Republic of Ireland 28.203 Czech Republic 27.982

Pot 2 (unseeded) Team Coeff Turkey 27.601 Bosnia and Herzegovina 27.199 Montenegro 21.876 Estonia 20.355

Matches

Team 1 was home team in the first game, and guest team in the second game.

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

As of 15 November 2011, there have been 636 goals scored by 339 different players and 17 own goals. 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
• Mario Gómez

• Gergely Rudolf
• Antonio Cassano

• Dirk Kuyt
• Robin van Persie

5 goals

• Gevorg Ghazaryan
• Marvin Ogunjimi
• Konstantin Vassiljev

• Mesut Özil
• Hélder Postiga
• Nani

• Adrian Mutu
• Tim Matavž
• Zlatan Ibrahimović

Attendances

As of 11 October 2011

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
North 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	204,574	40,915
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

External links

• UEFA EURO 2012 at UEFA.com