UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

This page describes the qualifying procedure for the UEFA Euro 2008.

Qualified teams

Host nations	Qualifiers
Austria Switzerland	Germany Greece Czech Republic Romania Italy France Croatia Poland Netherlands Spain Sweden Turkey Portugal Russia

Seedings

Qualification coefficients were used to rank the teams according to their results in both UEFA Euro 2004 and FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying stages. Only the group matches, and not any additional playoffs, counted towards the coefficients, also determining which pot a national team was put in. Some points to note:

• Greece were European champions, thus were automatically seeded in the top pool.
• Portugal did not have to qualify for UEFA Euro 2004 as they hosted the tournament. Only their record in 2006 World Cup qualifying was used.
• Germany did not have to qualify for the World Cup 2006 as hosts. Only their record in UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying was used.
• Kazakhstan had never competed in the European Championships, so only their World Cup record was used. The team's last continental qualifying was for the 2000 Asian Cup. Their record in that competition (P4, Pts6) is not used.
• After the independence from Serbia for Montenegro, Serbia took up the old Serbia and Montenegro's fixtures. Montenegro had not been admitted to UEFA/FIFA at the time the qualifying competition had started, and therefore did not compete until the qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

The draw took place on 27 January 2006 in Montreux, Switzerland.

Pot	Team	Coefficient rating	Pot	Team	Coefficient rating
1	Greece1	1.950	5	Hungary	1.389
	Netherlands	2.550		Finland	1.300
	Portugal	2.500		Estonia	1.250
	England	2.500		Wales	1.167
	Czech Republic	2.450		Lithuania	1.111
	France	2.444		Albania	1.050
	Sweden	2.278		Iceland	0.944
2	Germany	2.250	6	Georgia	0.850
	Croatia	2.222		North Macedonia	0.750
	Italy	2.222		Belarus	0.722
	Turkey	2.100		Armenia	0.700
	Poland	2.056		Northern Ireland	0.667
	Spain	2.056		Cyprus	0.667
	Romania	1.950		Moldova	0.611
3	Serbia	1.889	7	Liechtenstein	0.450
	Russia	1.850		Azerbaijan	0.389
	Denmark	1.850		Andorra	0.250
	Norway	1.778		Malta	0.222
	Bulgaria	1.778		Faroe Islands	0.111
	Ukraine	1.750		Kazakhstan	0.083
	Slovakia	1.650		Luxembourg	0.000
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.611		San Marino	0.000
	Republic of Ireland	1.556
	Belgium	1.556
	Latvia	1.550
	Israel	1.500
	Scotland	1.500
	Slovenia	1.444

¹ Greece were first seeded, as European champions

Austria (1.333) and Switzerland (1.833) were already assured of places at Euro 2008 as host nations.

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

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

Summary

Below is a table containing all seven qualifying groups. Teams that secured a place in the final tournament are highlighted in green. The order of teams is by final group position. For the first time, UEFA named the qualifying groups alphabetically rather than numerically.

  Winners and the runners-up of each group qualified directly for the UEFA Euro 2008

  Other teams were eliminated after the first round

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F	Group G
Poland Portugal	Italy France	Greece Turkey	Czech Republic Germany	Croatia Russia	Spain Sweden	Romania Netherlands
Serbia Belgium Finland Kazakhstan Armenia Azerbaijan	Scotland Ukraine Lithuania Georgia Faroe Islands	Norway Bosnia and Herzegovina Moldova Hungary Malta	Republic of Ireland Slovakia Wales Cyprus San Marino	England Israel North Macedonia Estonia Andorra	Northern Ireland Denmark Latvia Iceland Liechtenstein	Bulgaria Belarus Albania Slovenia Luxembourg

Groups

The qualifying process started in August 2006. Austria and Switzerland were granted places in the tournament finals as host nations.

The qualifying format had been changed compared to the previous tournament. The winners and runners-up from seven groups will automatically qualify for the Championship, with the hosts filling the other two slots in the 16-team tournament. The move means there will no longer be play-offs between teams finishing in second place in the groups. Six of the qualifying groups contain seven teams, and the other, eight.

As the official successor of the previous football association, Serbia inherited the position originally allotted to Serbia and Montenegro in Group A prior to the dissolution of the state union. Montenegro were granted UEFA membership after qualifying had started and thus were not able to participate in this European Championship.

Key:

• Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals

Group A

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A

Group B

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group B

Group C

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group C

Group D

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group D

Group E

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group E

Group F

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F

Group G

Main article: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G

Top goalscorers

Scorer	Goals	Mins played	Nation	Club
David Healy	13	1075'	Northern Ireland	Leeds United/Fulham
Eduardo	10	1061'	Croatia	Arsenal
Euzebiusz Smolarek	9	824'	Poland	Racing Santander
Lukas Podolski	8	660'	Germany	Bayern Munich
Jon Dahl Tomasson	8	989'	Denmark	Villarreal
Cristiano Ronaldo	8	1153'	Portugal	Manchester United
Steffen Iversen	7	669'	Norway	Rosenborg
Mladen Petrić	7	677'	Croatia	Borussia Dortmund
Nikola Žigić	7	867'	Serbia	Valencia
David Villa	7	896'	Spain	Valencia

Source: UEFA

External links

• Competition regulations (PDF file) UEFA.com