UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Qualified teams

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:

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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

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

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 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.

Play-offs

Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying 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

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.

Goalscorers

Notes

References

References

1. UEFA.com. (2010-02-05). "Spain among top draw seeds {{!}} UEFA EURO".
2. UEFA.com. (2009-12-02). "UEFA EURO 2012™ Qualifying Draw {{!}} Inside UEFA".
3. UEFA.com. (2009-09-20). "UEFA EURO 2012™ qualifying draw procedure approved {{!}} UEFA EURO".
4. "National Team Coefficients Overview". UEFA.
5. "EURO 2012 qualifying draw in full". UEFA.
6. (11 December 2009). "Azerbaijan, Armenia not to be drawn together in Euro qualifiers".
7. (7 February 2010). "Hiddink sad UEFA kept ex-Soviet states apart".
8. (September 2009). "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010–12". UEFA.
9. Staff. (2010-03-25). "England and Wales Euro 2012 qualifying fixtures announced". The Guardian.
10. Jackson, Jamie. (2010-03-25). "England fans upset by decision to switch Euro 2012 games to a Friday". The Guardian.
11. UEFA.com. (2010-08-12). "EURO qualifying to start in earnest {{!}} UEFA EURO".
12. (13 October 2011). "Draw for the UEFA EURO 2012 play-offs". UEFA.