This article documents a current sporting event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports, scores, or statistics may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
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.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pot 5 | Pot 6 | Pot 7 | |
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) and 7) will apply.
- 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.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Poland Serbia Portugal Finland Belgium Armenia Kazakhstan Azerbaijan
|
 France Italy Scotland Ukraine Lithuania Georgia
|
 Greece Bosnia and Herz. Turkey Norway Hungary Malta Moldova
|
 Czech Republic Germany Rep.of Ireland Slovakia Wales Cyprus San Marino
|
 Croatia Israel Russia England FYR Macedonia
|
 Sweden Spain Northern Ireland Denmark Liechtenstein Latvia Iceland
|
 Romania Bulgaria Netherlands Albania Belarus Slovenia
|
 Faroe Islands
|
 Andorra Estonia
|
 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
Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group A
Group B
Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group B
Group C
Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group C
Group D
Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group D
Group E
Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group E
Group F
Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group F
Group G
Top goalscorers
Qualified nations
Reaction to the draw
Group B features the two 2006 World Cup finalists plus World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine. The World Cup final rematch between Italy and France was one of the most anticipated matches of the qualifiers, with France beating Italy 3:1
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
References
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