UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, 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 ; the remaining three groups consisted of five teams. 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 were paired for two-game play-offs, with the winner of each total goals tie qualifying for the finals. The two host countries completed the field of sixteen teams.
Qualified teams
Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
1 | |||
0 | |||
Group A winner | 10 | ||
Group C winner | 7 | ||
[|Group E] winner | 8 | ||
[|Group I] winner | 8 | ||
Group G winner | 7 | ||
[|Group B] winner | 9 | ||
[|Group D] winner | 7 | ||
[|Group F] winner | 3 | ||
[|Group H] winner | 7 | ||
4 | |||
3 | |||
7 | |||
5 | |||
1 |
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. 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 countries which eventually qualified for the final tournament are emboldened in the table below.
Notes
- The co-hosts Ukraine and Poland, which qualified automatically, were ranked 19th and 23rd respectively.
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 are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.- 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) to 10) apply;
- superior goal difference in all group matches;
- higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
- higher number of goals scored away from home in all group matches;
- fair play ranking in all group matches;
- drawing of lots.
Summary
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H | Group I |
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