UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

This page describes the qualification procedure for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, also called Euro 2008.

Seedings

Qualification coefficients were used to rank the teams according to their results in the 2004 European Championships qualifying stage, and the 2006 World Cup qualifying stage. Only the group matches, and not any additional playoffs, count towards the coefficients, also determining which pot a national team is put in. Some points to note:

• Greece are European Champions, and so are automatically seeded in the top pool.
• Portugal did not have to qualify for Euro 2004, as the hosts. Only their 2006 World Cup qualifying record is used.
• Germany did not have to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2006, as the hosts. Their record from the qualifying stage of the 2002 World Cup is used instead.
• Kazakhstan have never competed in the European Championships, so only their World Cup record is used. The team's last continental qualifying was for the 2000 Asian Cup. Its record in that competition (P4,Pts6) is not used.

The draw took place on 27 January, 2006 in Montreux, Switzerland and the draw procedure is explained here.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Greece Netherlands Portugal England Czech Republic France Sweden	Italy Germany Croatia Turkey Poland Spain Romania	Serbia Russia Denmark Norway Bulgaria Ukraine Slovakia	Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic of Ireland Belgium Latvia Israel Scotland Slovenia
Pot 5	Pot 6	Pot 7
Hungary Finland Estonia Wales Lithuania Albania Iceland	Georgia North Macedonia Belarus Armenia Northern Ireland Cyprus Moldova	Liechtenstein Azerbaijan Andorra Malta Faroe Islands Kazakhstan Luxembourg San Marino

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 have secured a berth on the UEFA Euro 2008 final tournament are highlighted in green while teams unable to qualify are highlighted in red. All other teams are still in contention for a qualifying place.

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

Groups

The qualifying process started in August 2006. Austria and Switzerland have already qualified for the tournament finals as host nations.

The Qualifying Format has 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 will contain seven teams, and the other eight.

As the official successor of the previous football association, Serbia will inherit the position originally allotted to Serbia and Montenegro in Group A prior to the disolution of the state union. Montenegro has recently been granted UEFA membership but is not participating in Euro 2008.

Please see discussion of UEFA's head-to-head rules, and understand the Tiebreakers section, above, before editing tables below, to avoid errors. If there are any doubts, consult the official standings from UEFA.

Group A

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group A

Group B

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group B

Group C

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group C

Group D

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group D

Group E

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group E

Group F

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group F

Group G

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group G

Top goalscorers

Scorer	Goals	Nation	Club
David Healy	9	Northern Ireland	Fulham
Lukas Podolski	7	Germany	Bayern Munich
David Villa	7	Spain	Valencia
Eduardo da Silva	6	Croatia	Arsenal
Roberto Colautti	6	Israel	Maccabi Haifa
Cristiano Ronaldo	5	Portugal	Manchester United
Shota Arveladze	5	Georgia	AZ Alkmaar
Hakan Şükür	5	Turkey	Galatasaray
Martin Petrov	5	Bulgaria	Atlético Madrid
Marcus Allbäck	5	Sweden	F.C. Copenhagen
Jan Koller	4	Czech Republic	AS Monaco
Aleksandr Kerzhakov	4	Russia	Sevilla FC
Nikola Žigić	4	Serbia	Racing
Robin van Persie	4	Netherlands	Arsenal
Marek Mintál	4	Slovakia	1. FC Nürnberg
Mladen Petrić	4	Croatia	FC Basel
Jon Dahl Tomasson	4	Denmark	Villarreal CF
Zvjezdan Misimović	4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	VfL Bochum
Johan Elmander	4	Sweden	Toulouse
Euzebiusz Smolarek	4	Poland	Borussia Dortmund
Zlatan Muslimović	4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Parma F.C.
Peter Crouch	4	England	Liverpool F.C.
Adrian Mutu	4	Romania	Fiorentina

Qualified nations

1. Austria
2. Switzerland

Reaction to the draw

In Group A, Portugal expressed concern regarding the huge distances its team had to travel to play Poland, Finland, Serbia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Group B features the two 2006 World Cup finalists plus World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine.

Group C ended up being the only group that featured no teams in the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, and grouped rivals Turkey and Greece, who were also in the same group at the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifications.

See also

• UEFA coefficients
• 2008 UEFA qualifier fan attack

External links

• EURO 2008™ seedings confirmed at UEFA.com
• Competition regulations (PDF file) at UEFA.com

• Euro 2008 coefficient according to rdasilva's blog
• Euro 2008 spreadsheet — computes standings from scores
• Euro 2008 unofficial statistics