UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying


The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2016 final tournament.
A total of 53 national teams participated in this qualifying process, with Gibraltar taking part for the first time. The draw took place at the Palais des Congrès Acropolis, Nice, on 23 February 2014.

Qualified teams

TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in tournament
8
8
8
0
1
0
6
9
3
8
4
0
4
0
11
2
10
0
4
3
2
2
5
1

Format

All UEFA member associations are eligible to compete in the qualifying competition, with the host team France qualifying directly to the finals tournament. The other 53 teams are drawn into eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The group winners, runners-up, and the best third-placed team directly qualify to the finals. The eight remaining third-placed teams contest two-legged play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals.

Seeding system

Sides were seeded according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings, which were announced along with the draw procedure and final tournament match schedule after the 23–24 January Executive Committee meeting in Nyon. For the qualifying group stage, the teams were seeded into six pots for the qualifying group stage draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings, with the title holders automatically seeded into Pot 1. Each nation's coefficient is generated by calculating:
UEFA stated that nations with the largest markets in terms of contribution to the European Qualifiers revenue would be drawn into one of the groups containing six teams. They include England, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. UEFA has also stated in their regulations that "the teams drawn into the group of five teams will have France added to their group for the purpose of playing centralised friendlies".
For the play-offs the four ties are determined by draw, including the order of the two legs of each tie. The teams are seeded for the play-off draw according to the UEFA national team coefficient rankings updated after the completion of the group stage. Each nation's coefficient is generated by calculating:
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:
  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
  5. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
  6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Fair play conduct in all group matches ;
  10. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;
To determine the best third-placed team, the results against the teams in sixth place are discarded. The following criteria are applied:
  1. Higher number of points obtained;
  2. Superior goal difference;
  3. Higher number of goals scored;
  4. Higher number of away goals scored;
  5. Fair play conduct in all group matches;
  6. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;
For each play-off tie, the team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs qualifies for the final tournament. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e., the team that scores more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time is played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e., if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.
; Notes

Schedule

This is the first qualifying tournament after UEFA announced centralised rights deals for both UEFA Euro and FIFA World Cup qualifying. UEFA has proposed the "Week of Football" concept for the scheduling of qualifying matches:
There are ten matchdays for the qualifying group stage, and two matchdays for the play-offs:
StageMatchdayDates
Qualifying group stageMatchday 17–9 September 2014
Qualifying group stageMatchday 29–11 October 2014
Qualifying group stageMatchday 312–14 October 2014
Qualifying group stageMatchday 414–16 November 2014
Qualifying group stageMatchday 527–29 March 2015
Qualifying group stageMatchday 612–14 June 2015
Qualifying group stageMatchday 73–5 September 2015
Qualifying group stageMatchday 86–8 September 2015
Qualifying group stageMatchday 98–10 October 2015
Qualifying group stageMatchday 1011–13 October 2015
Play-offs1st leg12–14 November 2015
Play-offs2nd leg15–17 November 2015

Unlike previous qualifying campaigns where group fixtures were determined by negotiation between the national federations, UEFA themselves decided each group's fixture list, released the same day as the draw.

Draw

The draw took place at the Palais des Congrès Acropolis, Nice, on 23 February 2014, 12:00 CET. Groups A–H each contain one team from each of Pots 1–6, while [|Group I] contains one team from each of Pots 1–5.For television rights reasons, England, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands were drawn into groups of 6 teams. Before the draw UEFA confirmed that, for political reasons, Armenia would not be drawn against Azerbaijan and Gibraltar would not be drawn against Spain. France are partnered with the five-team Group I, which enables the 2016 tournament hosts to play friendlies against these countries on their 'spare' dates. These friendlies do not count in the qualifying group standings.

Seeding

The seeding pots were announced on 24 January 2014. Teams in bold qualified for the finals.

Summary

[|Group A]Group BGroup CGroup DGroup EGroup FGroup GGroup HGroup I


























Groups

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Ranking of third-placed teams

The highest ranked third-placed team from the groups directly qualified for the tournament, while the remainder entered the play-offs. As Group I contained five teams and the rest contained six, matches against any sixth-placed team in each group were not included in this ranking. As a result, a total of eight matches played by each team count toward the purpose of the third-placed ranking table.
Turkey became the best third-placed team, after winning against Iceland in its last match, while at the same time Kazakhstan beat Latvia to finish fifth in Group A.

Play-offs

The eight remaining third-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 18 October 2015, 11:20 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon.

Seedings

Matches

The first legs were played on 12–14 November, and the second legs were played on 15–17 November 2015. The four play-off winners qualified for the final tournament.

Goalscorers

Branding

UEFA unveiled the branding for the qualifiers on 15 April 2013. It shows a national jersey inside a heart, and represents Europe, honour and ambition. The same branding was also used for the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.

Broadcasting

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