UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 is a series of parallel association football competitions to be 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.[1]
There are a total of nine groups. Six of these groups have six teams (one each from pots 1 to 6 below); the remaining three groups consist of five teams (one each from pots 1 to 5 below). At the conclusion of qualifying, the team at the top of each group will qualify automatically. The second-placed team with the most points from games versus the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed teams will also qualify automatically. The remaining teams placing second in their respective groups will contest two-legged play-offs, with the winner of each play-off tie qualifying for the finals. The two host countries complete the field of sixteen teams.
Seeds
Seedings were based on the UEFA national team coefficient ranking.[2][3]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
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) in the qualifiers for Euro 2012.[4] Armenia and Azerbaijan were drawn together in Group A, and UEFA were forced to move Armenia to Group B as a result, given that Azerbaijan refused to play in Armenia when drawn together during UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying.[5] UEFA did not decide to keep France and the Republic of Ireland separate in the draw following the Thierry Henry handball controversy, with UEFA President Michel Platini being of the opinion that such a draw would have been great.[6][7]
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.[8]
- Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
- Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
- Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
- Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question
- 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
- Results of all group matches:
- Superior goal difference
- Higher number of goals scored
- Higher number of goals scored away from home
- Fair play conduct
- Drawing of lots
Qualifying group stage
The following 18 dates are 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 replace Wednesday evenings for midweek qualifying fixtures where two matchdays occur in the same week. This is in order to allow players an extra day to return to their clubs for domestic duty the following week. Consequently, teams are permitted to move the earlier weekend match forward to the Friday evening. Where matches are scheduled for a Friday evening, there remains a possibility that the fixture will actually be played on the Saturday.
| Legend |
|---|
| Group winners and best runner-up among all groups directly qualify for the finals |
| Remaining group runners-up advance to the play-offs |
| Cannot win the group anymore |
| Cannot qualify anymore |
Group A
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group A
Group B
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group B
Group C
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group C
Group D
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group D
Group E
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group E
Group F
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group F
Group G
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group G
Group H
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group H
Group I
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I
Ranking of second-placed teams
Because some groups contain six teams and some five, matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team will count for the purposes of the second-placed table.
Tiebreakers
The following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.[9]
- Higher number of points obtained in these matches
- Superior goal difference from these matches
- Higher number of goals scored in these matches
- Higher number of away goals scored in these matches
- Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system
- Fair play ranking in these matches
- Drawing of lots
Template:UEFA Euro 2012 qualification (2nd place)
Qualifying play-offs
The play-off ties will be played over two legs, with the first legs on 11 and 12 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 will qualify for the Euro 2012 tournament.
After confusion caused by the UEFA play-offs for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying - which was originally to be an unseeded draw, but was seeded by FIFA in September 2009 - UEFA have announced that the draw for the play-offs will be seeded. The four runners-up with the best positions in the UEFA team coefficient ranking system will be seeded and will play their second legs at home. Each nation's coefficient and ranking position for the draw and final Euro 2012 draw will be calculated per results up to and including 11 October 2011:[10]
- 40% of the average points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying stage.
- 40% of the average points per game earned in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage and final tournament.
- 20% of the average points per game earned in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying stage and final tournament.
Attendances
 |
| Team | Highest | Lowest | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
 Albania |
16,800 | 14,300 | 15,550 |
 Andorra |
500 | 250 | 375 |
 Armenia |
14,000 | 8,682 | 9,561 |
 Austria |
26,500 | 22,500 | 24,500 |
 Azerbaijan |
29,500 | 29,500 | 29,500 |
 Belgium |
42,502 | 24,000 | 33,251 |
 Belarus |
15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 |
 Bulgaria |
17,000 | 9,742 | 13,371 |
 Croatia |
33,000 | 33,000 | 33,000 |
 Cyprus |
8,500 | 2,000 | 5,250 |
 Czech Republic |
19,000 | 12,100 | 15,550 |
 Denmark |
18,908 | 15,944 | 17,426 |
 England |
73,451 | 73,246 | 73,349 |
 Estonia |
9,000 | 5,201 | 7,101 |
 Faroe Islands |
1,921 | 1,500 | 1,711 |
 Finland |
18,532 | 8,192 | 13,362 |
 France |
79,299 | 24,710 | 60,135 |
 Georgia |
63,000 | 45,000 | 54,000 |
 Germany |
74,244 | 43,751 | 58,997 |
 Greece |
16,935 | 13,520 | 15,392 |
 Hungary |
25,000 | 9,209 | 14,935 |
 Iceland |
9,755 | 6,137 | 7,946 |
 Republic of Ireland |
50,411 | 32,000 | 40,898 |
 Israel |
17,365 | 17,365 | 17,365 |
 Italy |
19,266 | 19,266 | 19,266 |
 Kazakhstan |
25,000 | 24,000 | 24,500 |
 Latvia |
7,400 | 7,400 | 7,400 |
 Liechtenstein |
6,127 | 2,555 | 4,341 |
 Lithuania |
9,180 | 6,539 | 7,860 |
 Luxembourg |
7,327 | 1,857 | 4,592 |
 North Macedonia |
21,000 | 17,000 | 19,000 |
 Malta |
6,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
 Moldova |
10,500 | 10,500 | 10,500 |
 Montenegro |
12,700 | 9,862 | 11,281 |
 Netherlands |
51,775 | 27,500 | 43,092 |
 Northern Ireland |
15,150 | 15,150 | 15,150 |
 Norway |
24,828 | 24,535 | 24,682 |
 Portugal |
27,000 | 9,100 | 18,050 |
 Romania |
13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 |
 Russia |
28,000 | 28,000 | 28,000 |
 San Marino |
4,127 | 600 | 2,364 |
 Scotland |
51,322 | 37,050 | 44,186 |
 Serbia |
30,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
 Slovakia |
10,892 | 5,980 | 8,436 |
 Slovenia |
16,500 | 12,435 | 14,467 |
 Spain |
16,800 | 16,400 | 16,600 |
 Sweden |
32,304 | 21,083 | 26,310 |
 Switzerland |
39,700 | 26,000 | 32,850 |
 Turkey |
41,000 | 41,000 | 41,000 |
 Wales |
68,959 | 14,061 | 41,510 |
Qualified nations
| Host nations |
|---|
Goalscorers
There have been 260 goals (including nine own goals) scored in 96 games by 150 different players (Up to and including the games on March 29, 2011).
- 9 goals
- 8 goals
- 6 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
|
|
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- 1 own goal
|
|
|
References
- ^ EURO 2012 qualifying draw in full UEFA
- ^ Spain among top draw seeds UEFA
- ^ National Team Coefficients Overview UEFA
- ^ Azerbaijan, Armenia not to be drawn together in Euro qualifiers News.Az, 11 December 2009
- ^ Hiddink sad UEFA kept ex-Soviet states apart ESPN Soccernet, 7 February 2010
- ^ "Platini would like France-Ireland for Euro 2012". AFP. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
- ^ "Platini fans Paris flames". The Irish Independent. 7 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
- ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010-12" (PDF). UEFA. 2009. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010-12" (PDF).
- ^ "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010-12" (PDF). UEFA. 2009. p. 7. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help)
External links
- UEFA EURO 2012 at UEFA.com
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